Viral transport medium (VTM) is a

solution Solution may refer to: * Solution (chemistry), a mixture where one substance is dissolved in another * Solution (equation), in mathematics ** Numerical solution, in numerical analysis, approximate solutions within specified error bounds * Soluti ...

used to preserve virus specimens after collection so that they can be transported and analysed in a laboratory at a later time. Unless stored in an ultra low temperature freezer or in

liquid nitrogen Liquid nitrogen—LN2—is nitrogen in a liquid state at low temperature. Liquid nitrogen has a boiling point of about . It is produced industrially by fractional distillation of liquid air. It is a colorless, low viscosity liquid that is wide ...

, virus samples, and especially

RNA virus An RNA virus is a virusother than a retrovirusthat has ribonucleic acid (RNA) as its genetic material. The nucleic acid is usually single-stranded RNA ( ssRNA) but it may be double-stranded (dsRNA). Notable human diseases caused by RNA viruses ...

samples, are prone to degradation. However, such cooling equipment is seldom available in the field due to their cumbersome size, weight, and in the case of freezers, high energy consumption. Hence, there is a need for VTM; a chemical preservative that can be used at ambient temperature. Chemical components may include saline solution,

phosphate-buffered saline Phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) is a buffer solution (pH ~ 7.4) commonly used in biological research. It is a water-based salt solution containing disodium hydrogen phosphate, sodium chloride and, in some formulations, potassium chloride and pota ...

(PBS), or

fetal bovine serum Fetal bovine serum (FBS) is derived from the blood drawn from a bovine fetus via a closed system of collection at the slaughterhouse. Fetal bovine serum is the most widely used serum-supplement for the in vitro cell culture of eukaryotic cells. Th ...

(FBS). VTM must be sterile to avoid introducing contamination to the specimen. In the United States, the

FDA The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA or US FDA) is a federal agency of the Department of Health and Human Services. The FDA is responsible for protecting and promoting public health through the control and supervision of food s ...

and

CDC The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is the national public health agency of the United States. It is a United States federal agency, under the Department of Health and Human Services, and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgi ...

publish guidelines for VTM production.

References

Microbiological media {{Biochemistry-stub