From cold chain to ambient temperature: transport of viral specimens- a review

Abstract

The diagnosis of an aetiology is dependent on the collection, transport, and storage of the infectious sample. The transport of the sample plays a crucial role in the chain of diagnosis. It is important to maintain the biological integrity of the pathogen during the transport of the sample to achieve an accurate diagnosis. This is important, particularly for labile organisms like viruses that are inactivated easily compared to other microorganisms. Many transport media have been utilised to ensure the integrity of the virus during transport. While most of the transport media are focused on preserving the infectious properties of the virus, progress has been made to develop virus transport media to inactivate the virus and obtain the stability of the viral nucleic acid, enabling better molecular diagnosis of the virus aetiologies. This review summarises the various media used for the transport of virus samples and focuses on the need to develop virus transport media that inactivates the virus and preserves the viral nucleic acid.

Keywords:

• Ambient temperature
• inactivation of the virus
• molecular diagnosis
• polymerase chain reaction
• virus transport medium

Author contribution

Oliver Christy Dsa outlined the paper structure performed the comprehensive literature review, conducted the data analysis and drafted the manuscript. Trupti Sathish Kadni coordinated the literature review processes and edited the manuscript. Sudheesh N provided expert guidance throughout the review process, reviewed and revised the manuscript and edited the final version of the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability

Data sharing is not applicable to this article as no new data were created or analysed in this study.

Additional information

Funding

No funding was received for this review.