What you must know about the virus transport medium and the new coronavirus

Since the beginning of the new coronavirus pandemic, the unprecedented global demand for virus diagnostic tests (PCR tests) has led to a severe shortage in the supply chain. One of the most important links is the virus preservation medium (VTM) used to preserve and transport samples. liquid.

Due to the shortage of virus transport mediums, many countries are forced to use alternative media for virus transport mediums, such as sterile saline, liquid Amis and other inactivated preservation media. However, the gap between these alternative media and the virus transport medium is also obvious, and they are not as good as the virus transport medium in terms of functionality, stability and inhibition.

The diagnostic test of the new coronavirus is to detect the viral nucleic acid by amplifying the specific sequence of SARS-CoV-2. SARS-CoV-2 is composed of extremely unstable and easily degraded RNA. Storing virus samples in qualified environmental conditions will lead to false negative results, and the presence of microorganisms will also contaminate virus samples. For these reasons, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in various countries regard the correct collection and storage of the new coronavirus COVID-19 as the most important step in diagnosis.

The preservation solution for other viruses has been optimized for decades. It was originally designed to preserve the viability of the culture, and later used for nucleic acid-based tests. It is a buffer solution, virus lysate, virus nucleic acid preservation agent, and antibacterial agent. The harmful mixture can protect the virus while eliminating the contaminating microbial flora that may interfere with the test. The general ingredients are: EDTA chelating agent, guanidine salt, anionic surfactant and cationic surfactant.

Virus transport medium is divided into two types: inactivated preservation solution and non-inactivation preservation solution. The inactivation preservation solution can inactivate the collected virus, while ensuring the integrity of the viral nucleic acid in the sample, and the collected virus sample can be Transport and long-term storage under normal temperature conditions; the non-inactivated storage solution can keep the virus active and will not inhibit subsequent nucleic acid amplification, but it needs to be stored in cold storage and tested as soon as possible.

Our company can provide inactivated and non-inactivated virus preservation liquid products with excellent quality and reasonable price. For more information, please contact us: Hubei Xindesheng Material Technology Co., Ltd. hosmakesmehappy@outlook.com