Specimen Requirements

1. “Maine Center for Disease Control” form and “Prevention Human Arboviral Specimen Submission" form must be filled out before submitting specimen. Form is attached to the left side of this page under "Resources".

2. Convalescent specimen may be required 2 weeks after initial specimen sent to reference laboratory.

3. Specimens will not be tested without the following information:

   A. Onset date

   B. Date of specimen collection

   C. Unusual immunological status of patient (eg, immunosuppression)

   D. Place of residence, travel history, and history of vaccination with a flavivirus vaccine (eg, yellow fever,       Japanese encephalitis, or Central European encephalitis).

   E. Brief clinical summary with suspected diagnosis (eg, encephalitis, aseptic meningitis).

Specimen Collection

Submit only 1 of the following specimens:

Serum

Container/Tube: Plain, red-top tube
Specimen: 0.5 mL of serum

Transport Temperature: Ambient

Collection Instructions: 1. Paired acute phase serum is drawn 0 to 8 days after onset of illness. Convalescent phase serum is drawn 14 to 21 days after the acute serum specimen. Convalescent specimens are required to demonstrate seroconversion and rule out false negative results. The convalescent specimen is very important to rule out a false-negative if the acute specimen only is tested.

2. Label vial with patient’s name (first and last), hospital identification number or date of birth, date and time of specimen collection, and source of specimen.

Note:

1. Causes for rejection:
   A. Inadequately labeled specimen
   B. Improper container
   C. Insufficient specimen volume

2. Specimen source is required.

Spinal Fluid

1. Submit 1 mL of spinal fluid in a screw-capped, sterile vial. Collect at time of onset or up to 3 days after onset of symptoms. 
2. Label vial with patient’s name (first and last), hospital identification number or date of birth, date and time of specimen collection, and source of specimen.

3. Maintain sterility and forward promptly at ambient temperature.

4. Causes for rejection:
   A. Inadequately labeled specimen
   B. Improper container
   C. Insufficient specimen volume

Note: Specimen source is required.