GB2383634A

GB2383634A - Biofluid sampling apparatus

Info

Publication number: GB2383634A
Application number: GB0130249A
Authority: GB
Inventors: David Kent Wright; Philip Steven Fullam
Original assignee: Krysium Advisors Ltd
Current assignee: Krysium Advisors Ltd
Priority date: 2001-12-19
Filing date: 2001-12-19
Publication date: 2003-07-02
Also published as: GB0130249D0

Abstract

The apparatus 10 has a plurality of sampling devices 11a to 11d and a housing 12 provided with a plurality of closeable containment portions 13a to 13d, each containment portion being closeable independently of other containment portions, there being one sampling device 11a to 11d mounted within each closeable containment portion 13a to 13d. Utility is in sampling milk from cows teats to determine if mastitis is present. Also claimed is sampling apparatus which has a housing in the shape of an animal where the housing contains a plurality of sampling devices in an array corresponding to the orifices of an animal from which a biofluid sample is required.

Description

Title: Improvements Relating to a Biological Fluid Sampling Apparatus Description of Invention This invention relates to a biological fluid sampling apparatus, particularly, but not exclusively, for sampling milk from an animal such as a cow.

It is known to test milk produced by dairy cows and other mammals to determine whether the animal is suffering from mastitis. Typically a milk collection operative collects samples of the milk using a sampling apparatus, and sends the samples to a laboratory for analysis.

Once it is determined that a particular animal has mastitis, it is necessary to determine which of the animal's teats is affected, in order to treat the animal effectively, and if necessary, to continue obtaining milk from any uninfected teats. Therefore, it is known to provide a sampling kit containing a plurality of sampling devices, so that each sampling device may be used to obtain and store a sample of milk from one teat only. The user must then mark each sampling device or part of a housing in which the sampling devices are stored, to identify the teat to which each sampling device corresponds. The kit may then be sent to a laboratory for analysis.

There are, however, two main problems with such known sampling kits.

First, it is relatively easy for there to be confusion as to which sampling device corresponds to which teat. Second, when extracting milk from the animal, for example when manually milking the animal, it is relatively easy for the user accidentally to contaminate another of the sampling devices with milk. As a result an incorrect teat may be diagnosed as being infected.

According to a first aspect of the invention, we provide a biological fluid sampling apparatus including a plurality of sampling devices and a housing provided with a plurality of closeable containment portions, each containment portion being closeable independently of the other containment portions, there being one sampling device mounted within each closeable containment portion.

Preferably, the apparatus is adapted so that in use, only one of the closeable containment portions may be fully opened at any one time.

Thus, when taking a sample using one sampling device, the risk of contamination of any of the other sampling devices is minimised.

Preferably the containment portions are arranged in an array corresponding to the arrangement of orifices of an animal from which the biological fluid to be sampled is obtained. Thus a user can easily identify which sampling device corresponds to each teat of the animal without the need to mark the sampling device or the housing.

Each closeable containment portion may be closed with a closure part, and the closure part may include a frangible connection which is broken when the containment portion is first opened. Thus a visual indication that the containment portion has been opened is provided, and the risk of a user using a sampling device more than once is reduced.

Each closure part may further include a slidably mounted lid part, adapted to engage with a body of the housing, and when in a closed position, to close the containment portion and provide an at least substantially liquid tight seal. The lid part may, on being moved to the closed position, assist in removing excess fluid from the sampling device contained within the associated containment portion.

When in an open or partially open position, a lid part may engage with each of the remaining lid parts to prevent or restrict sliding movement of each of the remaining lid parts.

The housing may have a generally square configuration, a containment portion being provided at or adjacent to each comer of the housing.

Each sampling device may include a support part with at least one absorbent pad mounted thereon.

The or one of the absorbent pads may include a reagent which may react with sample fluid to provide an indication of the level of bacterial and/or somatic cells in the sample.

Each sampling device may be provided with two absorbent pads, one of which may include a reagent which may react with sample fluid to provide an indication of the level of bacterial and/or somatic cells in the sample. The sample obtained using the other absorbent pad may be used in different test, which does not require the presence of a reagent on the absorbent pad. For example, sample fluid collected on the second pad may be wiped over the surface of an agar gel or other culture medium, or otherwise used to grow a culture of any bacteria within the sample.

The containment portions may each comprise an aperture provided in the housing.

The elongate support part of a sampling device mounting an absorbent pad, may be attached to the body of the housing adjacent to the aperture, and may be arranged such that the or each absorbent pad is located within the aperture. Thus when milk or any other biological fluid is sampled, e. g. by pouring onto the sampling device, any fluid which is not absorbed by the or each absorbent pad will pass through the aperture and not be retained in the sampling apparatus.

Desiccating means may be provided in the lid part of a containment portion, to assist in drying a fluid sample contained within that containment portion, so as to minimise deterioration of the sample on the absorbent pad or pads.

According to a second aspect of the invention we provide a biological fluid sampling apparatus including a housing and a plurality of sampling devices, the housing being configured to represent the shape of an animal, and the plurality of sampling devices being arranged in an array with respect to the housing corresponding to the arrangement of orifices of the animal from which the biological fluid to be sampled is obtained.

The invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawing which is an illustration of a biological fluid sampling apparatus according to the invention.

Referring now to the drawing, there is shown a sampling apparatus 10 including four sampling devices lla, lib, lie, lid and a housing 12 including four closeable containment portions 13a, 13b, 13c, 13d. One sampling device lla, lib, lie, lid is mounted in each containment portion 13a, 13b, 13c, 13d respectively. In this example, the sampling apparatus 10 is adapted for collecting samples of milk from a cow.

The housing 12 in this example is generally square and each containment portion 13a, 13b, 13c, 13d includes a generally circular aperture 14a, 14b, 14c, 14d provided in a comer of the square housing 12. Thus the containment portions 13a, 13b, 13c, 13d are arranged in a generally cruciform array.

Each containment portion 13a, 13b, 13c, 13d is closed with a closure part 15a, 15b, 15c, 15d which has two slidably mounted lid parts, one on either side of the housing, which engage with a body part 12a of the housing 12 to close the respective containment portion 13a, 13b, 13c, 13d and provide a substantially liquid-tight seal. The two lid parts 15a, 15b, 15c, 15d are joined by a connecting part 16a, 16b, 16c, 16d which in this example is a nut and bolt assembly, but which may be any other appropriate fastening or joining means.

A cut out 17 is provided in the body part 12a of the housing 12, and forms a cross generally centrally of the housing 12 with four arms, each arm extending towards one of the apertures 14a, 14b, 14c, 14d. The connecting

parts 16a, 16b, 16c, 16d extend through respective anus of the cut out 17 to join the two lid parts 15a, 15b, 15c, 15d.

Each sampling device 11 a, 11 b, 11 c, 11 d includes an elongate support part 18a, 18b, 18c, 18d with two absorbent pads 19a, 19a', 19b, 19b', 19c, 19c', 19d, 19d'mounted thereon. The support parts 18a, 18b, 18c, 18d are mounted

on the body part 12a of the housing 12 and extend into the aperture 14a, 14b, 14c, 14d such that the absorbent pads 19a, 19a', 19b, 19b', 19c, 19c', 19d, 19d' are supported generally centrally of the aperture 14a, 14b, 14c, 14d.

The absorbent pad 19a, 19b, 19c, 19d at a free end of the support part 18a, 18b, 18c, 18d is impregnated with a reagent which may react with a component of the milk sample to provide an indication of the level of bacterial and/or somatic cells in the milk. For example, the reagent may include a mixture of firefly luciferin and the enzyme luciferase. The other absorbent pads 19a', 19b', 19c', 19d'are not impregnated with such a reagent.

The housing 12 is also provided at a first side with a head part 20 which is shaped to represent the head of an animal such as a cow, and at a second opposite side a tail part 21 which is shaped to represent the tail of an animal such as a cow.

Preferably the housing 12 is made from a polymeric material such as PVC.

The sampling apparatus 10 is adapted to be used as follows.

Initially all the lid parts 15a, 15b, 15c, 15d are in a closed position, in which the containment portions 13a, 13b, 13c, 13d are closed with a substantially liquid tight seal.

A user opens a first containment portion 13a by sliding the lid parts 15a towards the centre of the housing 12, the connection part 16a passing along the cut-out portion 17 of the housing 12 to the centre of the cross formed by the cut-out portion 17. In this manner, the aperture 14a and sampling device 1 la is

exposed ready for use, as can be seen in the figure, which shows the lid parts 15a of the first containment portion 13a in a fully open position.

When in the fully open position, the lid parts 15a are located at the centre of the housing 12, and engage with the remaining lid parts 15b, 15c, 15d to prevent sliding movement of the remaining lid parts 15b, 15c, 15d. Thus, when the first lid parts 15a are in the fully open position, not one of the remaining lid parts 15b, 15c, 15d may be opened.

When a lid part 15a, 15b, 15c, 15d is in a partially open position, it is, in this example, possible to partially open the opposite lid part 15c, 15d, 15a, 15b,

but the absorbent pads 19a, 19a', 19b, 19b', 19c, 19c', 19d, 19d'are arranged such that they are not exposed when the lid part 15a, 15b, 15c, 15d is in the partially open position. If one set of the absorbent pads 19a, 19a', 19b, 19b', 19c, 19c', 19d, 19d'is exposed, the opposite lid part 15c, 15d, 15a, 15b cannot be opened sufficiently to expose the absorbent pads 19a, 19a', 19b, 19b', 19c, 19c', 19d, 19d'it covers. Other designs are possible which completely prevent the opening of any of the other lid parts 15b, 15c, 15d, when one lid part 15a is partially or completely open.

The user may then collect a sample of milk on the sampling device 11 la e. g. by ejecting milk from a teat of the cow onto the absorbent pads 19a, 19a'.

Most excess milk will pass through the aperture 14a, and thus will not be retained in the apparatus 10. In order to maintain a record of which teat the milk sample came from, the user should collect milk from the teat in the position relative to the cow-corresponding to the position of the sampling device 14a relative to the housing 12. In other words, in this example the sampling device 11 a should be used to collect milk from the rear left teat as determined when facing the head of the cow.

As the other sampling devices lib, lie, lid are closed within their respective containment portion 13a, 13b, 13c, 13d with a substantially liquid tight seal, and as there is no possibility of opening any of the other lid parts

15b, 15c, 15d whilst the first lid part 15a is fully open, the risk of contaminating any of the other sampling devices I I b, 11 c, 11 d with milk from the rear left teat is minimised.

When enough milk has been collected on the sampling device 1 la, the user slides the lid parts 15a back to the closed position, and the sliding of the lid parts 15a over the absorbent pads 19a, 19a'assists in removing any excess milk from the pads 19a, 19a'.

The user then opens a second containment portion 13b to repeat the process. In this case, the second sampling device lib should be used to collect milk from the front left teat of the cow as determined when facing the head of the cow.

When milk from all four teats has been collected, the user may send the sampling apparatus to a laboratory for analysis of the milk samples. By virtue of the arrangement of the sampling devices 11 a, 11 b, 11 c, 11 d corresponding to the arrangement of the teats of a cow, personnel at the laboratory will readily be able to tell which milk sample came from which teat of the cow.

In order to access all of the sampling devices lla, llb, llc, lldat once, the apparatus 10 is configured such that personnel at the laboratory may break open the housing. A special tool may be provided to achieve this. Preferably, breaking open of the housing is irreversible, and so the sampling apparatus may not be used again. The housing 12 may, however, be designed so that it can only be opened by laboratory personnel using a special tool and not by a user on a farm, but can also be reassembled for further use, the housing 12 having been cleaned and/or sterilised, and the old sampling devices lla, llb, llc, lld having been replaced with new sampling devices.

The absorbent pads 19a, 19b, 19c, 19d which were impregnated with the firefly luciferin/luciferase mixture for example, may be brought into contact with an extractant which lyses somatic and/or bacterial cells in the milk sample. The contents of the lysed cells then react with the firefly luciferin/luciferase

reagent in a light producing reaction. The level of bacterial and/or somatic cells in the milk sample may then be determined by measuring the level of light production using a luminometer.

The other absorbent pads 19a', 19b', 19c', 19d'may be wiped over the surface of a culture medium such as agar gel in order to grow a culture of any bacterial present in the milk sample.

These tests are given by way of example only, and it should be appreciated that any other appropriate tests may be carried out on the milk samples. Thus, it is not necessary to impregnate some of the absorbent pads

19a, 19b, 19c, 19d with firefly luciferin/luciferase reagent, or indeed any reagent at all.

Other modifications may be made to the sampling apparatus 10 without departing from the scope of the invention.

For example, the sampling apparatus need not be used to collect milk samples from a cow. It may be used to collect samples of milk or any other biological fluid from any animal. In this case, any necessary adaptations may be made to the shape of the housing to represent the animal concerned, and to the number and/or location of the sampling devices lla, lib, lie, lid to represent the arrangement and number of orifices from which fluid to be sampled may be obtained from the animal concerned.

Preferably, each pair of lid parts 15a, 15b, 15c 15d is provided with a frangible connection to the housing 12, such that when the lid parts 15a, 15b, 15c, 15d are slid from the closed position to the open position for the first time, the frangible connection is broken. Thus a visual indication that the containment portion 13a, 13b, 13c, 13d has been opened is provided, and the risk of a user erroneously using a sampling device lla, lib, lie, lid twice is reduced.

In addition to or instead of the frangible connection, the housing 12 and each of the lid parts 15a, 15b, 15c, 15d may be provided with detent means to

assist in retaining the lid part 15a, 15b, 15c, 15d in the closed position, once the lid part 15a, 15b, 15c, 15d has been opened. Alternatively the edges of the lid part 15a, 15b, 15c, 15d may taper towards the edge of the housing 12, and thus engage with the housing 12 to prevent sliding of the lid part 15a, 15b, 15c, 15d beyond the edge of the housing 12.

A desiccating material such as silica gel may be provided in the lid parts 15a, 15b, 15c, 15d in order to assist in drying out of the samples and therefore enhance preservation of the samples.

It is not necessary to use absorbent pads 19a, 19a', 19b, 19b', 19c, 19c', 19d, 19d', to collect the fluid sample. Any other fluid capture device, such as a capillary tube, a wire loop or simply an aperture in the elongate support part 18a, 18b, 18c, 18d for examples, may be provided. Such a fluid capture device may be configured to capture a pre-determined volume of fluid, and devices replying on capillary action, such as the examples given above, may be preferable to an absorbent pad 19a, 19b, 19c, 19d, where a very small volume of liquid is to be sampled.

It is not necessary to provide two absorbent pads 19a, 19a', 19b, 19b', 19c, 19c', 19d, 19d'for each sampling device lla, lib, lie, lid. One or more than two absorbent pads 19a, 19a'. 19b, 19b', 19c, 19c', 19d, 19d'may be provided.

In order to improve the seal between the lid parts 15a, 15b, 15c, 15d and the housing 12, it is possible to provide the lid parts 15a, 15b, 15c, 15d and corresponding parts of the housing with a dove tail configuration, such that the lid part 15a, 15b, 15c, 15d can be removed from engagement with the housing

12 only by sliding movement of the lid parts 15a, 15b, 15c, 15d with respect to the housing 12.

The features disclosed in the foregoing description, or the following claims, or the accompanying drawings, expressed in their specific forms or in terms of a means for performing the disclosed function, or a method or process

for attaining the disclosed result, as appropriate, may, separately, or in any combination of such features, be utilised for realising the invention in diverse forms thereof.

Claims

CLAIMS 1. A biological fluid sampling apparatus including a plurality of sampling devices and a housing provided with a plurality of closeable containment portions, each containment portion being closeable independently of the other containment portions, there being one sampling device mounted within each closeable containment portion.
2. A sampling apparatus according to claim 1 wherein, the apparatus is adapted so that in use, only one of the closeable containment portions may be fully opened at any one time.
3. A sampling apparatus according to claim 1 or 2 wherein the containment portions are arranged in an array corresponding to the arrangement of orifices of an animal from which the biological fluid to be sampled is obtained.
4. A sampling apparatus according to any preceding claim wherein each closeable containment portion is closed with a closure part.
5. A sampling apparatus according to claim 4 wherein the closure part includes a frangible connection which is broken when the containment portion is first opened.
6. A sampling apparatus according to claim 4 or 5 wherein each closure part further includes a slidably mounted lid part, adapted to engage with a body of the housing, and when in a closed position, to close the containment portion and provide an at least substantially liquid tight seal.

<Desc/Clms Page number 12>
7. A sampling apparatus according to claim 6 wherein the lid part, on being moved to the closed position, assists in removing excess fluid from the sampling device contained within the associated containment portion.
8. A sampling apparatus according to claim 6 or 7 wherein, when in an open or partially open position, a lid part engages with each of the remaining lid parts to prevent or restrict sliding movement of each of the remaining lid parts.
9. A sampling device according to any preceding claim wherein the housing has a generally square configuration, a containment portion being provided at or adjacent to each comer of the housing.
10. A sampling apparatus according to any preceding claim wherein each sampling device includes a support part with at least one absorbent pad mounted thereon.
11. A sampling apparatus according to claim 10 wherein the or one of the absorbent pads includes a reagent which may react with sample fluid to provide an indication of the level of bacterial and/or somatic cells in the sample.
12. A sampling apparatus according to claim 10 wherein each sampling device is provided with two absorbent pads, one of which includes a reagent which may react with sample fluid to provide an indication of the level of bacterial and/or somatic cells in the sample.
13. A sampling apparatus according to any preceding claim wherein the containment portions each comprise an aperture provided in the housing.

<Desc/Clms Page number 13>
14. A sampling apparatus according to claim 13 where dependent on claim 10 wherein the elongate support part of a sampling device mounting an absorbent pad is attached to the body of the housing adjacent to the aperture, and is arranged such that the or each absorbent pad is located within the aperture.
15. A sampling apparatus according to any preceding claim wherein desiccating means is provided in the lid part of a containment portion, to assist in drying a fluid sample contained within that containment portion.
16. A biological fluid sampling apparatus including a housing and a plurality of sampling devices, the housing being configured to represent the shape of an animal, and the plurality of sampling devices being arranged in an array with respect to the housing corresponding to the arrangement of orifices of the animal from which the biological fluid to be sampled is obtained.
17. A biological fluid sampling apparatus substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and/or as shown in the accompanying drawing.
18. Any novel feature or novel combination of features described herein and/or in the accompanying drawings.