192 



THE COLLECTION OF MATERIAL 



B. Kitasato s method. This method is much to be preferred when cultures 

 are to be sown or investigations of a more delicate nature are to be made. 



1. The patient rinses his mouth and gargles the back of his throat several 

 times with boiled water and then coughs the sputum into a sterile Petri dish. 



2. Transfer the sputum immediately to a tube containing several cubic 

 centimetres of sterile water and shake it up well. Remove the sputum from 

 the tube with a sterile platinum loop or a pair of sterile forceps to a second 

 tube of sterile water and wash it in this way three or four times to free it, 

 as far as possible, from contaminating organisms (but note that sputum can 



only be washed when it is tenacious and lumpy as in influenza, 

 advanced tuberculosis (nummular sputum), etc.). 



3. After washing spread the sputum in a thin layer in a sterile 

 Petri dish and cut off a small fragment with a small pair of 

 sterile scissors or platinum needle from as near the centre as 

 possible. Use this for sowing cultures. 



4. Blood. 



Man. 



A. Pricking the skin. A small quantity of blood is readily 

 obtained by pricking the distal end of the finger near the nail 

 and collecting the drops in some suitable sterile vessel such as 

 a Pasteur pipette, a small tube [or a Wright's capsule ] or on a 

 glass slide. This method is however only applicable when the 

 blood is required for immediate microscopical examination, e.g. 

 for anthrax bacilli, hsematozoa, etc., as it is liable to con- 

 tamination during collection. When the blood is required for sowing 

 cultures, it should be taken from a vein. 



FIG. 146 



Wright's cap- 

 sule for collect- 

 ing blood. 



FIG. 147. Method of collecting blood by pricking the finger. 



1. Sc-rub the ball of the finger with soap and w r ater. Wash it in 

 perchloride, alcohol and ether. Dry with sterile paper. 



2. Compress the base of the finger by grasping it with the left hand or by 

 tying a ligature round it (fig. 147). 



