Ever since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, there’s been a pressing demand for specialised disposable virus sample collecting and transfer kits to facilitate efficient virus movement after identification by molecular detection assay. Virus Transport Medium Kit (VTM) and Molecular Transport Media (MTM ) have indeed been developed in response to the growing requirement for Virus Sampling for Throat or Nasal Secretions. COVID-19 infections are typically diagnosed using aseptic viral samples in cell culture. Over the years, a range of transport mediums has been created, although some swab-tube combination is completely effective and convenient, there are a few worries regarding pH and viral integrity.
Here’s what you should know about various modes of transportation:
What distinguishes MTM from VTM?
The main difference between MTM and VTM is that molecular transport media eliminates viruses, bacteria, fungus, and Mycobacterium making specimen handling and transportation easier and minimising infection risks.
MTM was developed with the intent of destroying pathogenic specimens while conserving and stabilising the DNA and RNA produced. The denaturing chemical in MTM dissolves the virus’s coat (capsid), making reinfection improbable while conserving viral nucleic acids for molecular diagnostics and sequencing.
Because of its higher performance and reaction time, molecular testing is now commonly employed in place of traditional microbiology testing. The bulk of COVID-19 and other infectious disease diagnostics currently on the market are nucleic-acid-based molecular assays. As a result, it’s imperative to get rid of any infections found in the viral sample.
COVID-19 has resulted in a significant increase in the need for MTM and VTM kits around the world. Microbial nucleic acid storage and stabilisation (RNA and DNA) Advancells Diagnostics MTM kits are recognized tools for the appropriate transportation of specimens that may contain viruses.
Benefits of MTM over VTM
Typical VTM kits are designed to transport intact viable microbiological samples for growth, implying that a biohazard exists that necessitates additional laboratory work in a sterile environment. Moreover, since the samples are active, they should be kept in a cold chain during storage and transportation. These common transport medium kits may contain enzymes that degrade RNA/DNA, rendering molecular testing including PCR problematic. On the other side, current molecular testing only demands intact microbial nucleic acids, not live viruses.
The specimens in the MTM can be kept for up to 7 days at ambient temperature or 28 days at 2 to 8°C and reused many times. This mostly lowers the risks associated with handling live infectious samples, and also reduces costs by nullifying the requirement for a cold chain, giving MTM kits a significant benefit above VTM kits.
Advancells Diagnostics is a manufacturer of VTM and MTM kits that are essential for COVID testing. If you are looking for high quality, manufactured in sterile conditions VTM and MTM kits, connect with us at info@advancellsdiagnostics.com for further insights. You can also get in touch with us at +91-9654321400 to place an order.