Traveling medical samples: A journey you never thought about

Everyday, people go to their local doctor’s office or clinic to get tested. Everything from STD’s and Ebola to the common flu are tested for. But what happens after your sample is taken?

It isn’t something people often think of. Usually, they are more concerned with the results than the process.

But the process itself is something special.

Samples are categorized by several different things: their danger, their ability to spread, and other things of that sort. These categories determine how the sample must be packaged and what kind of vehicle it can be sent to a lab in.

Many samples can be sent in planes, trains and automobiles, and some even through currier services, although many of the more “dangerous” samples must be sent in a car or cargo only plane.

One of the crazy things about the travel of these samples though is that sometimes you could be traveling with one and have no idea. Now, this may not seem that outrageous if the sample is only the flu, but sometimes it can be something a little more advanced.

Samples of blood, urine, stool and even cultures are all held to strict travel restrictions that dictate what kind of container, or how many different containers, the sample must be housed in.

In addition to the medical standards, they must meet the government’s regulations for each from of travel: automobiles, trains and planes.

With more advanced and aggressive samples, such as Ebola or HIV, this whole process could just be one stop in their line. Many of these samples go from lab to lab, having to go through this same cycle time and time again.

So the next time you get tested, for anything, realize this is the process that keeps your results from coming to you instantaneously.