JP2000346838A - Specimen test appliance and wipe test appliance - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To obtain a small and simple specimen test apparatus or wipe test appliance. SOLUTION: This wipe test appliance 1 comprises a tubular body 2 whose upper and lower parts are opened, a specimen wiping tool 4 comprising a holding member 10 removably inserted into the upper opening 3 in this tubular body 2 and a cotton bar 9 held by this holding member 10, and a specimen test appliance 6 that comprises a reagent container 17 having a breaker 24 on its bottom and measurement container 15 and is mounted to the lower opening 5 in the body. The appliance 1 detects bacteria in a specimen.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an instrument for collecting dirt or bacteria on a liquid or a solid surface and measuring the degree of contamination by reaction with a reagent or the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as an instrument for wiping off dirt on a solid surface or the like with a cotton swab and allowing a reaction reagent to act to check the degree of contamination, "TEST APPARATUS, SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR T
HE DETECTION OF TEST SAMPLES "(WO9703209). This device consists of a tubular body, a swab inserted therethrough, and a reagent container attached to the tip of the body, which constitutes an inspection instrument. The amount of contamination of the inspection object is inspected by contacting the cotton portion.

[0003]

In the above-mentioned conventional apparatus, when the swab is pushed down, it is necessary to stop the swab during the reaction, for example, due to the reaction with the extractant. Will rely on your attention. Further, there is no disclosure of a member that breaks the sealing material, and there is no mechanism for sufficiently suspending the collected swab-like dirt in the reaction solution, and thus there is a large variation in determination. Furthermore, reagent containers are merely abutted, and no consideration is given to miniaturization.

[0004] Therefore, as a result of earnest research, the inventor of the present application has found that a reagent container containing a reagent such as an extract is inserted into an opening of a measurement container containing a luminescent reagent such as luciferase as if embedded therein. Thus, the reagent is provided in the tube that is the measurement container, and the device is miniaturized.Also, by providing a breaker that breaks the sealing material in the main body or the lower part of the reagent container, the swab and the extract are further separated. The inventors of the present invention have found that the extract and the reagent can be brought into contact with each other without fail and completed the present invention.

[0005]

That is, the present invention relates to a measuring container in which a test tube is formed and a reaction reagent is stored therein, and a sealing material is attached to upper and lower openings and the reagent is sealed therein. A sample testing instrument comprising a reagent container comprising a reagent container fitted into an upper opening of the measurement container, and a tubular main body having upper and lower openings.
A holding member detachably inserted into the upper end opening of the main body, a sample wiping tool composed of a cotton swab held by the member, a test tube, a measurement container containing a reaction reagent, and a tube A sealant is adhered to the opening and a reagent is sealed in the inside thereof. The reagent is constituted by a specimen test instrument which is fitted into the upper opening of the measurement vessel and the specimen test instrument is constituted. A wiping inspection instrument, which is fitted into a lower end opening of a main body.

[0006]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS First, in FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a wiping inspection instrument according to the present invention, which is mainly a tubular main body 2 which is open at the top and bottom, and which is detachably attached to an upper opening 3 of the main body 2. And a specimen test instrument 6 for bacteria, which is fitted into the lower opening 5 of the main body 2. The sample wiping tool 4 includes a rod-shaped cotton shaft 7.
And a cotton portion 8 formed in an egg shape at the lower end thereof
Swab 9 comprising a swab and holding member 10 for holding swab 9
And has a function of removing bacteria from the main body 2 and wiping the surface of the specimen with a cotton swab 9 to collect bacteria.

The holding member 10 is composed of a lower small-diameter portion 11 and an upper large-diameter portion 12. The diameter of the small-diameter portion 11 is such that it stops at an arbitrary position when inserted into the main body 2. The step 13 contacts the upper end 14 of the main body 2 and serves as a stopper when the sample wiping tool 4 is moved down. More specifically, on the inner wall surface of the upper opening 3 of the main body 2, a projection member 30 that is linear in the axial direction is provided as shown in FIG. The tip 3 of the projection member 30
The outer peripheral portion of the brim-shaped member 32 provided at the middle portion of the holding member 10 and the holding member 10 slides, and the sliding surface is reduced to make the movement smooth. When the product is shipped, the slit-shaped notch 35 as shown in FIGS. 13 and 14 is formed so that the holding member 10 is fixed to the main body 2 at an intermediate position to some extent as shown in FIG. It is preferable to provide it and engage it with the brim-shaped member 32.

[0008] As shown in FIG.
It comprises a cup-shaped measuring container 15 and a reagent container 17 fitted in an opening 16 thereof, and is pushed until it comes into contact with a step portion 48 formed above the lower opening 5 of the main body 2. Be mounted. The reagent container 17 has a cylindrical shape, and sealing materials 18 and 19 are adhered to upper and lower openings, whereby a closed chamber 20 is formed in the reagent container 17. And an extract 21 for separating the bacteria from the cotton 8 to which the bacteria have adhered. And the reagent container 17 thus formed is the measuring container 1
5, a closed chamber 22 is formed in the container 15, and a reaction reagent 23 is stored in the chamber 22.
When fitting the reagent container 17 to the measurement container 15, if the upper end surfaces 50 and 51 are made the same, the size of the sample testing instrument 6 is reduced. Furthermore, by sealing up to the upper end surface 51 of the measurement container 15 with the sealing material 18, the opening of the sample testing instrument 6 is sealed. This is a measuring instrument with two kinds of reagents.

Below the reagent container 17, a breaker 24 as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 is provided. Breaker 2
4 is provided with a projection 25 at the tip thereof,
As described above, for example, it is composed of six breaker pieces 26, and has a function of breaking the sealing material 19 with the breaker piece 26 by the downward movement of the swab 9 as described later. A breaker 2 having the same structure as the breaker 24 provided in the reagent container 17 is provided near the step portion 48 of the main body 2.
7 has a function of breaking the sealing material 18 by the downward movement of the swab 9 as described later. The breakers 24 and 27 need not necessarily be provided when the seal members 18 and 19 are easily broken by the swab 9 and may be provided as needed.

[0010] The breaker 24 also has a function of scraping the surface of the cotton portion 8 and more effectively promoting the detachment of bacteria adhering thereto. In addition, swab 9
Is slightly resisted by the breaker 24 during the downward movement, but the contact time between the extract 21 and the cotton portion 8 is maintained longer. Alternatively, it is more effective to artificially stop the downward movement of the swab 9 at that time. A slit 36 is formed in the outer wall of the reagent container 17 in a concave shape as shown in FIG. 5, and is used as an air vent when the container 17 is inserted into the measurement container 15 or as an air vent when the reaction reagent 23 is freeze-dried. You.

Although the present invention is basically a device for detecting bacteria by a luminescence reaction, the present invention is not limited to this, and it is also possible to collect, culture, and test microorganisms.
In the case of a luminescence reaction, a cationic surfactant or the like is used as an extract, and a reaction reagent is composed of luciferase, luciferin, magnesium ion, dithiothreitol, a buffer, or the like, or luciferase, dithiothreitol, Examples thereof include those composed of pyruvate orthophosphate dikinase, phosphoenolpyruvate, sodium pyrophosphate, luciferin, magnesium ion, a buffer, and the like. on the other hand,
In the case of collecting, culturing, and testing microorganisms, a culture solution or a test reagent is used instead of the extract.

[0012]

[Operation] Regarding the wiping test instrument 1, as shown in FIG. 1, initially, the sample wiping tool 4 is provided in a partially inserted state. The reaction reagent 23 and the extract 21 are in a state of being enclosed in the measurement container 15 and the reagent container 17. The specimen wiping tool 4 is pulled out from the main body 2 and the specimen surface is wiped with a cotton swab 9 to collect bacteria. The specimen wiping tool 4 from which the bacteria have been collected is inserted into the main body 2 again. Press down the sample wiping tool 4, that is, the swab 9, and
The sealing material 18 is broken by 7 and the cotton portion 8 is immersed in the extract 21. In this process, when the cotton swab 9 is further pushed down, the contact between the cotton portion 8 and the extract 21 is inevitably prolonged due to the resistance from the breaker 24, and the extract 21 of the bacteria attached to the cotton portion 8 is removed. Migration is guaranteed.
Furthermore, the process of scraping the surface of the cotton portion 8 with the tip of the breaker 24 in the process of opening the petals in the shape of the breaker 24 enables the bacteria adhering to the surface of the cotton portion 8 to be efficiently transferred to a liquid. I have to. The sample wiping tool 4 is pushed down until the step 13 of the holding member 10 and the upper end 14 of the main body 2 contact each other. By this operation,
The sealing material 19 is broken by the breaker piece 26 of the breaker 24, and the extract 21 containing bacteria is supplied to the measurement container 1
And falls into 5. By gently shaking the entire device 1 for wiping inspection, the reaction reagent 23 and the extract 21 come into contact with each other, and this portion shines due to the luminescence reaction, and bacteria can be detected.

Although the wiping test device 1 has been described above, the sample test device 6 alone can be used as a test device. That is, the swab may be a commercially available swab, and after wiping the sample with the swab, piercing the upper end of the sample testing instrument 6 to break the sealing materials 18 and 19 and performing the procedure as described in the above section of the operation. Thus, the stain of the specimen can be inspected. In this case, the example shown in FIG. 2 and the example in which the breaker 27 of the sealing material 18 is mounted as shown in FIG. 6 can be given.

Next, FIG. 8 shows another embodiment of the sample testing instrument. The sample testing instrument 6A according to the present embodiment includes a measurement container 15A, a breaker 24 fitted in the container 15A and having a substantially cylindrical shape as a whole and having a breaker piece 26A at the bottom thereof.
A and a scraper 28A fitted to the breaker 24A and having a substantially cylindrical shape and having a scraping piece 29A at the bottom thereof. As shown in FIG. 10, this scraping machine 28A is composed of, for example, six scraping pieces 29A, which scrapes the surface of the cotton portion 8 to promote the detachment of bacteria. As shown in this embodiment, the breaker 24A is used. You may add further besides. A sealant 19A is adhered to the bottom of the breaker 24A, and a sealant 18A is adhered to the upper end of the scraper 28A. The reaction reagent 23 and the scraper 2 are attached to the measurement container 15A.
8A is configured such that the extract 21 is sealed therein. 27A is a breaker of the sealing material 18A having the same structure as the breaker 24. According to this embodiment, the shape of each member is simplified. In this embodiment, the scraper 28A
Will also function as the reagent container 17.

Next, based on FIG. 9, the sample test device 6 shown in FIG.
How to assemble A will be described. For example, the reaction reagent 23 freeze-dried in the measurement container 15A
Is stored (freeze-dried while being stored in the measurement container 15), the breaker 24A having the sealing material 19A adhered to the bottom thereof is pushed from the opening 16 at the upper end to the step 34 formed in the container 15A. . (FIG. 9A) The extract 21 is injected into the breaker 24A. (FIG. 9
(b)) The scraper 28A to which the sealing material 18A is stuck is pushed into the opening 37 of the breaker 24A. At this time, the scraping pieces 28
The extract 21 flows into the inside of the scraper 28A from the gap 38 of A (see FIG. 10). (FIGS. 9 (c) and 9 (d)) With the above configuration, the extract 21 is sealed in the scraper 28A, and the reaction reagent 23 is sealed in the measurement container 15A.

Next, FIG. 11 shows another embodiment of the sample testing instrument and how to assemble the same. The present embodiment is an example in which the sealing material 18A is adhered to the top of the scraper 28A and the sealing material 19A is adhered to the bottom and the extract 21 is sealed in itself, that is, the function of the reagent container 17 is also provided. The scraper 28A can be manufactured by a unique route to assemble the sample inspection instrument 6A or the wipe inspection instrument 1.

FIG. 12 shows an embodiment in which the breaker is made movable. The breaker 41 in the present embodiment includes:
It has a substantially cylindrical shape, and its tip portion 42 is formed in an acute angle shape. On the other hand, a brim-shaped member 44 is provided at the base end portion 43, and the member 44 slides on the inner wall surface of the main body to be vertically movable. The breaker 41 has a liquid passage 45 at the tip end portion 42 thereof, is installed in the middle portion of the main body 2, and the swab 9 is inserted thereinto so that the device 1 for wiping inspection is provided.
Is assembled. The breaker 41 moves down together with the holding member 10 when the base end 43 of the breaker 41 is pressed by the lower end surface 46 of the holding member 10. First, the sealing material 18A and then the sealing material 19A are sequentially broken to enable the contact between the cotton portion 8 and the extract 27 and the contact between the extract 21 and the reaction reagent 23. In addition, the contact between the cotton portion 8 and the extract 21 is performed via the liquid passage 45. According to this embodiment, the sealing material can be more reliably broken.

FIG. 15 shows another embodiment of the sample test instrument 6. This embodiment is an example in which the opening 16 is sealed with a sealing material 18B that is larger than the outer diameter of the container 15 at the opening 16 of the measurement container 15 of the sample testing instrument 6. According to the present embodiment, the portion 18C protruding from the outer diameter of the measuring container 15 is picked up with a finger and the sealing material 18B is peeled off, so that it is not necessary to break the sealing material 18B with the cotton swab 19.
Further, a strong material can be used as the sealing material 18B, and the quality is improved as a single product.

[0019]

As described above, the present invention is configured as described above, the instrument for wiping inspection is miniaturized, the bacteria collected by the swab are efficiently extracted, and the accuracy of the inspection is improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front sectional view of a device for wiping inspection.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged front sectional view of the sample testing instrument.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged front sectional view of a reagent container.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along line 4-4 in FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a front view of a reagent container.

FIG. 6 is a view of another embodiment of a sample testing instrument.

FIG. 7 is a sectional view taken along line 7-7 in FIG. 1;

FIG. 8 is a view showing another embodiment of the wiping inspection instrument.

FIG. 9 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing how to assemble the sample testing instrument shown in FIG. 8;

10 is a sectional view taken along line 10-10 of FIG. 9;

FIG. 11 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing another embodiment of the sample testing instrument and how to assemble the same.

FIG. 12 is a view showing another embodiment of a breaker;

FIG. 13 is a detailed view of a cutout portion in FIG. 1;

FIG. 14 is a side view of FIG.

FIG. 15 shows another embodiment of a sample testing instrument.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Wiping inspection tool 2 Main body 4 Sample wiping tool 6 Specimen testing instrument 9 Swab 10 Holding member 15 Measurement container 17 Reagent container 21 Extraction liquid 23 Reaction reagent 24 Breaker 27 Breaker 28 Scraper

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A test container comprising a test tube and a reaction container in which a reaction reagent is stored, and a tube and a reagent container in which a sealing material is attached to upper and lower openings and a reagent is sealed therein.
A sample test instrument comprising a reagent container fitted in an upper opening of a measurement container. 2. The sample detection instrument according to claim 1, wherein a breaker for breaking the sealing material is provided at a lower portion inside the reagent container. 3. The sample detection instrument according to claim 1, wherein a breaker for breaking a seal member located above is provided at an upper end portion of the reagent container. 4. A sample wiping tool comprising a tubular main body having upper and lower openings, a holding member detachably inserted through an upper end opening of the main body and a cotton swab held by the member, and a test tube. And a reagent container having a tubular shape with a reagent container containing a reaction reagent, and a sealing material stuck to upper and lower openings, and a reagent sealed therein. The reagent container is fitted into the upper opening of the measurement container. A device for wiping test, comprising: a sample testing device comprising: a sample testing device fitted into an opening at a lower end of a main body. 5. The wiping inspection instrument according to claim 4, wherein a breaker for breaking the sealing material is provided at a lower portion inside the main body. 6. The wiping inspection instrument according to claim 4, wherein a breaker for breaking the sealing material is provided at a lower portion inside the reagent container.