Laboratory - Skin sampling Flashcards
1
Q
Why might we swab a chronic, non-healing wound?
A
- To identify cause - bacterial or inflammatory?
2
Q
Why might we swab wounds that have long tracts?
A
- Identify anaerobic bacteria?
3
Q
Why might we swab skin folds?
A
- To identify the causative agent - e.g. yeast or bacteria.
4
Q
Once you have swabbed the area, what do you do next?
A
- Roll swab onto clean slide, spread, heat fix it, stain the slide and then apply coverslip for examination.
5
Q
What 2 ways will you examine the swabbed slide under the microscope?
A
- x4 objective lens, doing the battlement technique.
- x100 lens with immerison oil.
6
Q
What are you using x4/x10 objective lens to identify in swabs?
A
- Otodectes.
7
Q
What few things are you looking to detect on x100 oil immersion?
A
- Fungi - ringworm - moist swab.
- Yeast - Malassezia.
- Bacteria - in house cytology smeal or externam cultre and sensitivity.
Staphlococcus intermedius - gram positive cocci skin overgrowth.
pseudomonas - gram negative rod - unhealthy skin, moist, dirty ears. - inflammatory cells - Initial inflammatory cells: neutrophils, eosinophils.
Chronic inflammation: macrophages and lymphocytes.
8
Q
Why might your cytology smear be non-diagnostic?
A
- Poor sample collection.
- contaminated with blood, leucocytes present as a result.
- Rough handling of fragile cells when smearing so they have been ruptured.
- Diff Quik contaminated with infectious cells - giving a false positive result.
- Diff Quik out of date so not staining effectively.
9
Q
If you are taking a biopsy of a tissue to look into fungal disease, what would you do to keep it moist and preserve it?
A
- Use saline soaked gauze swab.
10
Q
What are a few things to consider when nursing a skin disease patient?
A
- Monitor for self trauma/secondary infection.
- Prevent self trauma - pet shirts/buster collars.
- Caution when handling patients as can be painful/uncomfortable. Consider pain relief and soothing baths.
- Repeat skin sampling to ensure treatment is effective.
- Communicate with owners how to apply topical treatment, clinical signs to look out for in terms of deterioration and the important of treating the house when trying to eradicate parasitic and fungal infections.
