Specimen Requirements

10 mL of urine. Acceptable specimens include clean caught (midstream) freshly voided urine, catheter specimens, and non-clean caught specimens. Urine submitted in a grey-top tube is not acceptable for testing. Ideally, urines should be submitted without preservatives. However, red/yellow swirl-top “UA Preservative” tubes have been validated as acceptable for UA and UWM testing and may therefore be used.

First morning-specimens are preferred. Specimens kept at room temperature should be analyzed within two hours of collection. Refrigeration at 2 - 8°C may be used to preserve specimens for up to 24 hours, though this is not preferred. Specimens that arrive in “homemade” containers (glass jars, pill bottles, etc.) are not acceptable.