CA2744678C - Collection device and material - Google Patents

Abstract

Swabs, and materials of the present disclosure, and methods of making same, include randomly arranged sea-island bicomponent fibers.

Description

2

3

4 Technical Field 6 The present disclosure describes a swab, and collection material for use 7 therein, for collecting biological specimens.
8 Background 9 Devices, such as swabs, for collecting biological specimens of organic material are known in the field of clinical and diagnostic analyses, which 11 generally include a cylindrical rod or stick containing on a collection end or tip a 12 wad of fiber material, such as rayon or a natural fiber such as cotton, with 13 hydrophilic properties to allow rapid absorption of the quantity of specimen to be 14 collected and tested. Stable adherence of the fiber wrapped around the end or tip of the rod or stick is generally achieved by gluing.
16 Collection swabs containing the collected material are often immersed in a 17 culture media, such as in a test tube, vial, culture dish, or culture bottle, soon or 18 immediately after collection to preserve and conserve the collected specimen 19 during storage and/or transport to, for example, an analytical laboratory.
Collection swabs and devices of the prior art are described, for example, in 21 EP0643131 and W02004/086979.
22 Summary Devices, such as swabs, and materials of the present disclosure, and methods of making same, Include randomly arranged sea-island bicomponent fibers.
The present disclosure provides a swab for collecting and releasing a biological sample containing an applicator and sea-island bicomponent fibers.
The swab of present disclosure contains fibers attached to an end portion of the applicator, such as by adhesive.
The present disclosure provides a method of forming the swab of the disclosure which includes adhering the bicomponent fibers to the applicator.
The present disclosure provides a method of collecting a biological sample which includes contacting the swab of the disclosure with a source of biological material such that a sample of the material is retained by the swab.
According to further aspects, the invention provides for the following (1) to (25):
(1) A swab for collecting and releasing a biological sample, comprising a flock fiber tipped applicator, wherein the flocked fibers are sea-island bicomponent composite fibers, and said composite fibers are not split.
(2) The swab of (1), wherein said sea component of the composite fibers is not removed from the composite fibers.
(3) The swab of (1) or (2), wherein said bicomponent fibers comprise a first polyester sea material and a second polyester island material, (4) The swab of (3), wherein said first polyester has a lower melting point than said second polyester.

(5) The swab of (3), wherein said first polyester has a greater solubility in alkaline solution than said second polyester.

(6) The swab of (5), wherein the first polyester has a greater solubility in alkaline solution of sodium hydroxide, as compared to the second polyester,

(7) The swab of (6), wherein the first polyester has greater solubility in an alkaline solution of sodium hydroxide solution containing about 5% to about 50%
by weight sodium hydroxide in water, as compared to the second polyester.

(8) The swab of (7), wherein the first polyester has greater solubility in an alkaline solution of about 10% by weight sodium hydroxide in water, as compared to the second polyester.

(9) The swab of (5), wherein the first polyester has greater solubility in a heated alkaline solution as compared to the second polyester.

(10) The swab of (9), wherein the first polyester has greater solubility in an alkaline solution heated to a temperature of about 170 F to about 190 F, as compared to the second polyester.

(11) The swab of any one of (1) to (10), wherein said fibers are adhered to the applicator with an adhesive.

(12) The swab of (11), wherein said adhesive is a photocurable acrylic adhesive or a polyurethane adhesive, 2a

(13) The swab of (1) or (2), wherein said bicomponent fibers comprise a polyethylene terephthalate sea material and a polyamide island material.

(14) The swab of (1) or (2), wherein said bicomponent fibers comprise a polyethylene terephthalate island material and a poiyamide sea material.

(15) The swab of (13) or (14), wherein said fibers are adhered to the applicator with an adhesive.

(16) The swab of (15), wherein said adhesive is a photocurable acrylic adhesive or a polyurethane adhesive.

(17) The swab of any one of (1) to (16), wherein said bicomponent fibers comprise 10-3000 island parts per fiber.

(18) The swab of (17), wherein said fibers comprise 10-240 island parts per fiber.

(19) The swab of (17), wherein said fibers comprise 10-64 island parts per fiber.

(20) The swab of (17), wherein said fibers comprise 10-37 island parts per fiber.

(21) The swab of (17), wherein said fibers comprise 10-36 island parts per fiber.

(22) The swab of (17), wherein said fibers comprise 10-24 island parts per fiber.

(23) The swab of (17), wherein said fibers comprise 24-36 island parts per fiber.

(24) A method of forming the swab as defined in any one of (1) to (23), comprising adhering the bicomponent flocked fibers to said applicator.

(25) A method of collecting a biological sample, comprising contacting the swab as defined in any one of (1) to (23) with a source of biological material such that a sample of the material is retained by the swab.
2b Brief Description of Drawings Figure 1 provides an end view of a bicomponent fiber of PET/PET.
Figure 2 is a photograph of an experimental swab stick head.
Detailed Description Devices, such as swabs, and materials of the present disclosure, and methods of making same, include randomly arranged sea-island bicomponent fibers.
Materials of the present disclosure may be included as a high absorbency member of medical swab devices. The "splitable" flock fiber materials of the 2c present disclosure attached to the end of a thin "stick-like" polymeric shaft are 2 described and contemplated herein as swabs of the present disclosure.
3 The materials of the disclosure may include micro- and nano-fibers, such 4 as bicomponent sea-island materials. Segmented pie materials may also be used. Bicomponent sea-island materials and segmented pie materials are 6 known and described, for example in Ndaro et al Journal of Engineered Fibers 7 and Fabrics, volume 2, Issue 4, 2007 "Splitting of Islands-in-the-Sea Fibers 8 (PA6/COPET) During Hydroentanging of Nonwovens"; and Fedorova, Nataliya 9 "investigation of the Utility of Islands-in-the-sea Bicomponent Fiber Technology in the SpunBond Process" Ph.D. Dissertation, North Carolina State University, 11 Raleigh, NC (2006); as well as in U.S. Patent Application Publication Nos.:
12 20100075143 (FIBER STRUCTURE AND METHOD FOR PRODUCTION
13 THEREOF), 20100068516 (THERMOPLASTIC FIBER WITH EXCELLENT
14 DURABILITY AND FABRIC COMPRISING THE SAME), and 20100029158 (ISLANDS-IN-SEA TYPE COMPOSITE FIBER AND PROCESS FOR
16 PRODUCING SAME), And W02002042528 (A SEA-1SLAND TYPED
17 COMPOSITE FIBER USED IN WARP KNITTING, AND A PROCESS OF
18 PREPARING FOR THE SAME), W02002042529 A SEA-ISLAND TYPE
19 COMPOSITE FIBER FOR RAISED WARP KNIT FABRIC, AND A PROCESS OF
PREPARING FOR THE SAME), W02002088438 (A SEA-ISLAND TYPED
21 CONJUGATE MULTI FILAMENT COMPRISING DOPE DYEING COMPONENT, 22 AND A PROCESS OF PREPARING FOR THE SAME), and as are commercially 23 available from, for example, Kolon Industry, Kumi City, Kyungbuk, Korea and I generally described as ROJEL - polyester/polyester conjugated fiber yarn 2 (sea/island) or SPECIAL TYPE OF ROJEL - polyester/nylon conjugated fiber 3 yarn (sea/island); or Hyosung Corporation, Ulsan City, Kyungbuk, Korea and 4 generally described as MIPAN XF - Nylon/polyester conjugated yarn (pie-wedge cross-section).
6 In the islands-in-sea type composite fiber of the presently described 7 material, an easily soluble polymer is incorporated for the sea portion and 8 preferably contains at least one polymer easily soluble in aqueous alkali 9 solutions, such as polylactic acid, super high molecular weight polyalkyleneoxide-condensate polymers, polyethyleneglycol compound-copolymerized polyesters, 11 and copolymerized polyesters of polyethylene glycol (PAG) compounds with 12 sodium sulfoisophthalic acid or dimethy1-5-sulfoisophthalate sodium salt (DM1S).
13 Polyester sea materials may include alkali soluble copolymer polyester materials 14 with polyester mainly containing polyethylene terephthalate of more than 90 mole percept as island component (such as is described, for example, in 16 W02002042528.

18 The islands-in-sea type bicomponent composite fiber of the present 19 disclosure contains a sea part containing or composed of polymer of greater solubility than a plurality of island parts containing or composed of a less soluble 21 polymer, in the cross-sectional profile of which the number of the island parts is 22 about 10, 24, 36, 37, 64 or 240 islands per fiber, or ranges of islands per fiber 23 between any of 10, 24, 36, 37, 64, 240 or 3000 islands per fiber.

)666052 1 The island component of the bicomponent composite fiber of the present 2 disciosure may be a polyamide, such as nylon, or a polyester. Examples of the 3 polyamide include polymers having an amide bond, such as nylon 6, nylon 66, 4 nylon 610, and nylon 12. The polyester is not particularly limited as long as it is a polymer synthesized from dicarboxylic acid or an ester-forming derivative and 6 diol or an ester-forming derivative thereof and can be used as the fiber.
Specific 7 examples thereof include polyethylene terephthalate, polytrimethylene 8 terephthalate, polytetramethylene terephthalate, polycyclohexylenedimethylene 9 terephthalate, polyethylene-2,6-naphthalene dicarboxylate, polyethylene-1,2-bis(2-chlorophenoxy)ethane-4,4'-dicarboxylate and the like. In an embodiment of 11 the present invention, a polyethylene terephthalate or a polyester copolymer 12 containing mainly an ethylene terephthalate unit, may be used.
13 The islands-in-sea type bicomponent composite fiber of the present 14 disclosure have a linear mass density in the range of about 1-7 deniers, alternatively in the range of about 2 to 6 deniers or the range of 2 to 5.8 deniers 16 (or 2.22 to 6.49 dtex) wherein a denier is the mass in grams per 9000 meters of 17 fiber and dtex is the mass in grams per 10,000 meters. The diameter (0, in 18 centimeters) of a bicomponent composite fiber may be estimated from the 19 following formula, wherein p represents a materials density in grams per cubic centimeter:
14 x 10-6 = dtex 77-p 1 Estimating the fiber specific gravity as being equal to 1 (specific gravity 2 values of common fiber polymers according to Gafe et al ("Polymeric Nanofibers 3 and Nanofiber Webs: A New Class of Nonwovens" INTO 2002: International 4 Nonwovens Technical Conference (Joint INDA TARP! Conference), Atlanta, Georgia, September 24-26, 2002) are as follows: 0.92 (polypropylene or PP), 6 1.14 (polyamide 66 or nylon or PA66) and 1.38 (polyethylene terephthalate or 7 PET)), the diameter of bicomponent composite fiber of the present disclosure 8 having a linear mass density in the range of 2 to 5.8 deniers would be about 9 16.7pm to 28.6pm.
The islands of the bicomponent composite fibers of the present disclosure 11 have a mass linear density of about 0.01 to about 0.3 deniers, or about 0.05 to 12 about 0.2 deniers, or about 0.06 to about 0.16 deniers, depending on the linear 13 mass density of the bicomponent composite fibers of the present disclosure.
14 The islands-in-sea type bicomponent composite fibers of the material of the present disclosure have a length, or cut length, of about 10 to about 100 16 thousandths of an inch (about 254 pm to about 2,540 pm), or about 20 to about 17 90 thousandths of an inch, or about 20 to about 80 thousandths of an inch, or 18 about 20 to about 70 thousandths of an inch, or about 20 to about 60 19 thousandths of an inch.
The islands-in-sea type bicomponent composite fibers of the material of 21 the swabs of the present disclosure are not split. The seas of the islands-in-sea 22 type bicomponent composite fibers of the material of the swabs of the present 23 disclosure are not dissolved or removed from the islands of the composite fibers.

=
1 Figure 1 is a scanning photograph of an example of a fiber of the present 2 disclosure wherein ends of the bicomponent composite fibers is illustrated and 3 the islands of the fiber is intact and not dissolved or removed.
4 The bicomponent composite fibers of the material of the present diSclosure are preferably randomly arranged.
6 The number of fibers on a swab of the present disclosure may be 7 evaluated by light microscope (Amscope) at 180X power with a 1 mm calibration 8 scale (NIST) in conjunction with a video camera (Amscope 3.0 megapixel) and 9 suitable video analysis software, such as for example, Version 3Ø12.498 Amscope video software calibrated to 180X.
11 A swab of the present disclosure, which includes material of the present 12 disclosure, may be any shape adapted for collection, and optional retention, of 13 biological samples from a host directly or already collected biological fluid or 14 sample. Shapes and sizes of such devices are known in the art. The swab of the present disclosure is constructed of materials known in the art, such as 16 acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS). The swab of the present disclosure is 17 such that the material of the present disclosure may be attached to the applicator 18 of the swab through an adhesive during a flocking technique known in the art.
19 An applicator of the swab of the present disclosure may be a rod or rod-like thermoplastic substrate wherein one end is coated, partially, substantially or 21 completely, with an adhesive to anchor or hold fibers of the present disclosure to 22 the substrate in an initial arrangement generally perpendicular to the substrate 1 and generally parallel to adjacent fibers to thereby create, for example, a bristle 2 or bristly end on the substrate.
3 in a method of making devices according to the present disclosure, 4 individual, loose or connected substrate, such as applicator shafts, sticks or rods have adhesive applied by at least one adhesive applicator container, block, head, 6 nozzle, or roller by, for example, spraying, dipping, rolling, printing or a 7 combination thereof, optionally in a metered fashion, under pressure or by 8 gravity, and in a manner which may or may not include any combination of linear 9 and/or rotational, such as by axial rotation or spinning, of the adhesive applicator relative to the applicator.
11 In the flocking technique of the present disclosure, an electric field of 12 alternating or direct current is applied to the fibers in a manner know in the art to 13 organize and transport charged fibers to opposite charged adhesive-covered 14 substrate such that the fibers are held in place by the tackiness or adhesive strength of the adhesive, only in areas where the adhesive has been applied to 16 produce flock fiber tipped applicators, or swabs of the disclosure. The technique 17 may include movement of the substrate, linearly and/or rotationally, such as by 18 axial rotation or spinning, at any time or throughout the process of applying fibers 19 to the adhesive. Where further curing of the adhesive, such as by light or heat, is required, the flock fiber tipped applicator swab may be treated with light and/or 21 heat so as to cure the adhesive.
22 Swabs of the disclosure may contain approximately 104 to approximately 23 1010, or approximately 104 to approximately 109, or approximately 104 to 1 approximately 108, or approximately 104 to approximately 107, or approximately 2 104 to approximately 106, or approximately 104 to approximately 105, flock fibers 3 per substrate.
4 The adhesive of the present disclosure is not particularly limited and general and photo or heat cured acrylic-based, polyurethane-based, polyamide-6 based, polyester-based, vinyl-based and/or two-part epoxy adhesives may be 7 used. Silicones, cyanoacrylates, polyurethanes and/or latex adhesives may be 8 used. Polyurethane adhesive are generally known and available, such as from 9 K&VV Adhesive Products.
The swabs of the present disclosure are adapted or designed for 11 collection of, for example, biological samples from oral, nasal, ocular, rectal, 12 urethral, or vaginal orifices of a mammal, such as a human, or patient.
13 The swabs may be used and is designed for collection of a biological 14 specimen by contact with the fibers of the device such that the device may collect, for example, about 35 to about 200 pl, such as 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, 16 100, 120, 130, 140, 150, 160, 170, 180 or 190 pl, without causing damage or 17 substantial discomfort to the patient during specimen collection.
18 The swabs of the present disclosure is useful for and in a method of 19 collecting biological specimens. A swab of the present disclosure is of the type containing a rod terminating with a tip covered in the fibers described herein to 21 allow absorption of said specimens, wherein the fibers cover or substantially 22 cover the tip in the form of a layer applied by means of flocking.

1 The present disclosure further provides a method of collecting a biological 2 sample which includes contacting a swab as described herein with a source of 3 biological material such that a sample of the material is retained by the swab.
4 The swabs of the disclosure may be provided, for example, as a component part of a collection, transport, culture and/or transport kit or device 6 wherein additional specimen handling containers and/or devices are included 7 and the swab of the present disclosure is specially adapted to be integrated with 8 such other container and/or devices to assure, for example, specimen retention, 9 integrity and/or sterility.
The present disclosure provides a swab for collecting and releasing a 11 biological sample containing sea-island bicomponent fibers. The swabs may 12 further contain bicomponent fibers which are composed of a first polyester sea 13 material and a second polyester island material; the first polyester may have a 14 lower melting point than the second polyester and/or the first polyester may have a greater solubility in alkaline solution than the second polyester. The alkaline 16 solution may more specifically be a sodium hydroxide solution - the sodium 17 hydroxide solution may contain about 5% to about 50% by weight sodium 18 hydroxide in water, or alternatively about 10% by weight sodium hydroxide in 19 water. The alkaline solution wherein the first polyester sea material is more soluble than the second polyester sea material may be a heated alkaline solution 21 - the heated alkaline solution alternatively having a temperature of about 170 F
22 to about 190 F, such as about 180 F.

1 The present disclosure provides a swab, wherein material described 2 herein is attached to an end portion of an applicator stick or rod. The material 3 may be adhered to the end of the applicator with an adhesive, and the adhesive 4 may be a photocurable acrylic adhesive or a polyurethane adhesive.
The bicomponent fibers of the present disclosure may be composed of a 6 polyethylene terephthalate sea material and a polyamide island material.
7 The bicomponent fibers of the present disclosure may be composed of or 8 contain 10-3000 island parts per fiber, 10-240 island parts per fiber, 10-64 island 9 parts per fiber, 10-37 island parts per fiber, 10-36 island parts per fiber, 10-24 island parts per fiber, and/or 24-36 island parts per fiber.
11 The present disclosure provides the fibrous material of the swab described 12 herein. The fibrous material may be incorporated separately as a part of a 13 device other than a swab, such as a filter or cleaning pad or brush.
14 The present disclosure provides a method of forming a swab of the disclosure involving adhering the bicomponent fibers to an applicator, such as a 16 rod or stick, wherein the sea component of the fiber is not removed.

19 The following examples further illustrate the materials and methods of the disclosure without limiting same.

22 A quantity of (about 30 or so) experimental medical swabs were prepared 23 from ABS plastic "sticks' of Puritan Medical Products (Guilford, ME) with 0.5 mm 1 long (0.020, nominal length, as determined by a Flock-ln-Spect flock fiber length 2 optical measurement instrument) Nylon/PET sea/island type flock fiber.
Two 3 adhesive systems were employed in these experimental fabrications; the 4 polyurethane rubber (K&W polyurethane adhesive - MECFLOCK L876/1, MEDCODUR H5530 two part polyurethane adhesive, mixed 85 grams L876/1 6 resin and 15 grams H5530 hardener - product of Kissel and Wolf; cured 3 hours 7 at 110 C or else cured 16 hours at 80 C ) and a UV photo-curable adhesive from 8 Puritan Medical Products.
9 The following materials and instruments were used in fabrication:
ABS
(plastic) swab sticks (supplied by Puritan): Maag Flockmaschinen Motion (flock 11 activity) Tester SPG 1000; K & W adhesive in a shallow aluminum dish (adhesive 12 depth about 1 cm); photo-curable adhesive in light-blocked packet; flock screen 13 sifter; and a supply of Nylon/PET 0.5 mm long Flock fibers 14 The experimental swabs were fabricated as follows. The flock activity tester's 4" diameter aluminum base plate is covered (by sifting) with about 2 16 grams of loose flock. This sample of loose flock was mounted on to the bottom 17 electrode pedestal of the Flock Activity Tester. The end of the swab sticks were 18 perpendicularly dipped into the fluid K & W adhesive to a depth of about 1 cm 19 and slowly removed to produce end-coated swab-sticks. Some swab samples were made using photo-curable adhesive. Water-based acrylic (F1059B Lubrizol 21 Corp.) flock adhesive and other water based adhesives could be used. A
3.5 22 KV/cm strength was applied to the DC electrodes of the Flock Activity Tester 23 (upflocking machine). This causes the flock fibers to align themselves and 1 actively move to the top electrode. As this flock is being propelled from the 2 bottom to the top electrode, the adhesive coated tip plastic swab-stick is then 3 placed in the "flock fiber cloud" about 1 cm from the bottom electrode (source of 4 the activated flock fibers). While in the "flock fiber cloud", the swab-stick was slowly rotated by rolling the stick held in gripping fingers.
6 Flock fibers fully adhered to the saturate at the (adhesive wet) end of the 7 swab-stick after about a 2 to 5 second flock field immersion time. The swab 8 adhesive was subsequently cured.
9 The average amount of adhesive and the average amount of flock applied to the ABS base (sticks) were determined by weight with the following results:
11 average weight of "Bare" ABS sticks: 0.5644 .0-0.00426 grams; average weight 12 of K & W Adhesive on "Sticks" before flocking: 0.0046 grams; and average 13 weight of PET/Nylon Flock on "Sticks": 0.0135 grams. With an average of 0.0135 14 grams of sea/island flock fiber on each "stick" this translates to approximately 1.2 X 105 flock fibers per "stick".
16 The water "pick-up" capabilities of the flocked medical swabs was 17 determined by a procedure whereby a number of swab and "stick" materials were 18 first weighed (dry). Then this same series of flocked swabs and "sticks"
were 19 immersed in room temperature (23 C) water (tips only) for 5 seconds and then reweighed.
21 The per cent water pick-ups of the various swab configurations were then 22 compared. The results demonstrate that the "bare" ABS swab sticks pick-up or 23 capture little or no water. The polyurethane adhesive coated (tip only) swabs 1 picked up or captures a little water indicating that the adhesive is a more wettable 2 surface that the "bare" ABS. The flocked fiber swab picked up or captured a 3 measurable amount of water (8.95%).
4 Several fiber material types (of sea/island fiber) have been evaluated.
The nylon/PET (Kolon) and PET/PET (Kolon-Rojel) fibers appear useful in the fiber 6 flocked medical swab application of the present disclosure. While 0.5 mm long 7 nylon/PET flock fiber were initially investigated, fibers of various sizes may be 8 used and are contemplated.
9 The following two flock adhesives have been investigated: the two-package polyurethane (clear rubbery) and the photo-curable (clear film plastic) 11 systems. Other adhesives are contemplated.

Claims (25)

1. A swab for collecting and releasing a biological sample, comprising a flock fiber tipped applicator, wherein the flocked fibers are sea-island bicomponent composite fibers, and said composite fibers are not split.

2. The swab of claim 1, wherein said sea component of the composite fibers is not removed from the composite fibers.

3. The swab of claim 1 or 2, wherein said bicomponent fibers comprise a first polyester sea material and a second polyester island material.

4. The swab of claim 3, wherein said first polyester has a lower melting point than said second polyester.

5. The swab of claim 3, wherein said first polyester has a greater solubility in alkaline solution than said second polyester.

6. The swab of claim 5, wherein the first polyester has a greater solubility in alkaline solution of sodium hydroxide, as compared to the second polyester.

7. The swab of claim 6, wherein the first polyester has greater solubility in an alkaline solution of sodium hydroxide solution containing about 6% to about 50% by weight sodium hydroxide in water, as compared to the second polyester.

8. The swab of claim 7, wherein the first polyester has greater solubility in an alkaline solution of about 10% by weight sodium hydroxide in water, as compared to the second polyester.

9. The swab of claim 5, wherein the first polyester has greater solubility in a heated alkaline solution as compared to the second polyester.

10. The swab of claim 9, wherein the first polyester has greater solubility in an alkaline solution heated to a temperature of about 170°F to about 190°F, as compared to the second polyester.

11. The swab of any one of claims 1 to 10, wherein said fibers are adhered to the applicator with an adhesive.

12. The swab of claim 11, wherein said adhesive is a photocurable acrylic adhesive or a polyurethane adhesive.

13. The swab of claim 1 or 2, wherein said bicomponent fibers comprise a polyethylene terephthalate sea material and a polyamide island material.

14. The swab of claim 1 or 2, wherein said bicomponent fibers comprise a polyethylene terephthalate island material and a polyamide sea material.

15. The swab of claim 13 or 14, wherein said fibers are adhered to the applicator with an adhesive,

16. The swab of claim 15, wherein said adhesive is a photocurable acrylic adhesive or a polyurethane adhesive.

17. The swab of any one of claims 1 to 16, wherein said bicomponent fibers comprise 10-3000 island parts per fiber.

18. The swab of claim 17, wherein said fibers comprise 10-240 island parts per fiber.

19. The swab of claim 17, wherein said fibers comprise 10-64 island parts per fiber.

20. The swab of claim 17, wherein said fibers comprise 10-37 island parts per fiber.

21. The swab of claim 17, wherein said fibers comprise 10-36 island parts per fiber.

22. The swab of claim 17, wherein said fibers comprise 10-24 island parts per fiber.

23. The swab of claim 17, wherein said fibers comprise 24-36 island parts per fiber.

24. A method of forming the swab as defined in any one of claims 1 to 23, comprising adhering the bicomponent flocked fibers to said applicator.

25. A method of collecting a biological sample, comprising contacting the swab as defined in any one of claims 1 to 23 with a source of biological material such that a sample of the material is retained by the swab.