Dried blood spots (DBS) are a useful specimen collection tool in situations where venous access is problematic, however, detection of biomarkers from this specimen type is subject to variation depending on storage conditions and storage time.
Vitreous fluid has been described as a useful specimen for postmortem analysis because the eye is isolated and the fluid is less subjected to contamination or purification (7 ).
Later collectors provided more useful information: specimens from AFG Kerr, who spent much of the 1920s and 30s exploring in Thailand, are labelled with an exact date as well as details of their relevant location and further notes (although these labels are hand-written and hard to decipher).
Both direct touch and smear preparations are useful when specimens must be transported some distance for electron microscopic examination.
It is particularly useful for specimens in which bacterial density is at least 10 CFU/mL (e.g., in pus, sputum, and urine) (28 ).
Nasopharyngeal aspirates, throat swabs, or sputum samples were the most useful clinical specimens in the first 5 days of illness, but later in the illness viral RNA could be detected more readily in stool specimens.
While many of the plants surveyed may have held aesthetic appeal for gardeners, only 4 out of the 463 attempts were identified as useful agricultural specimens with no weedy characteristics.
