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'Gastrointestinal Diseases' 

Collect 0.5 mL or 0.5 grams of semi-solid stool or 20 mm diameter solid stool and transfer to properly labeled plastic, leak-proof container. Do not place stool in preservative, transport media or swab. Watery, diarrheal stool is not acceptable. It is recommended that you contact the Patient Service Center to verify appropriate container for submitting stool specimen. It may be required that you go to the lab and pickup a container to submit your stool specimen.

For initial diagnostic purposes no special patient preparation is required. Patients are not required to be off of medications or to fast before this test. While positive test results from patients taking agents such as proton pump inhibitors and antimicrobials should be considered accurate, false negative results may be obtained. For this reason, physicians may suggest the patient go off medications for two weeks and repeat test if negative results are obtained. To confirm eradication, testing should be done at least 4 weeks following the completion of treatment. However, a positive test result 7 days post therapy is indicative of treatment failure. Watery, diarrheal stool is not acceptable. Estimated turnaround for results is 3 business days. If confirmation testing is required, the estimated time may be extended.