Apparatus and methods for pre-treating swabs prior to collection of specimens to reduce false positive detections
AssigneeSoftRay
InventorPaul E. Johnson
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Methods and apparatus for pre-treating swabs prior to collection of specimens to reduce false positive detections by immersing a swab in a liquid chemical pre-treating agent for a treatment period of time. Then the swab is removed and circulated in a rinse agent. The pre-treating agent may be an oxidizing agent, a reducing agent, a bleaching agent (e.g. sodium hypochlorite solution) or a fluorescence suppressing dye (such as Evans blue, Trypan blue, or black dye).
Claims20
The method for pre-treating swabs having swab bundles designed for specimen collection comprising the steps of:
- (a) submerging the swab bundle into a liquid chemical pre-treating agent for a treatment period of time;
- (b) removing the swab from the chemical pre-treating agent;
- (c) submerging the swab bundle into a rinse agent;
- (d) circulating the rinse agent around the swab bundle for a predetermined rinse period of time;
- and
- (e) extracting the swab from the rinse agent;
- wherein the liquid chemical pre-treating agent reduces false positive detections by at least about 70% compared to performing a similar method using sterile water instead.
The method for pre-treating swabs having swab bundles designed for specimen collection comprising the steps of:
- (a) submerging the swab bundle into the fluorescence suppressing dye solution for a treatment period of time;
- and
- (b) removing the swab from the dye solution;
- wherein the dye solution reduces false positive detections by at least about 70% compared to performing a similar method using sterile water instead.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.