Diagnosis of Listeria as a cause of meningitis, or infection during pregnancy/ childbirth
Diagnosis of food poisoning (rare) – Please discuss with a Consultant Microbiologist before sending samples
Blood Cultures
CSF
Lesion, Pus, Wound, Superficial Wound Swab (Babies)
HVS, Placental Swabs
Stool (Please note – there is very low sensitivity in isolating listeria from stool samples – please discuss with a Consultant Microbiologist before sending)
CSF, lesions, Pus – White Sterile Universal Pot
Wound/HVS – Charcoal swabs
Stool – Faecal pot
For electronic requesting using EPIC (RDUH ONLY):
Please see:
Please make sure to mention Listeriosis in clinical details.
Undertaken at RDUH
Microscopy on CSF- 4 hours
Culture – 48 – 72 hours
CSF should be transported to laboratory as soon as possible. Urgent microscopy is available 24/7 – please contact on-call staff out of hours.
Specimen Labelling Procedure Procedure for Collection of Blood Cultures