Mar 09, 2022
Construction of a Moore Swab
This protocol is a draft, published without a DOI.
- Dilip Abraham1,
- Nicola Elviss2,
- Nicholas Feasey3,
- Nick Grassly4,
- Jacob John1,
- Gagandeep Kang1,
- John Scott Meschke5,
- Venkata Raghava Mohan1,
- Satheesh Nair2,
- Jonathan Rigby3,
- Rajan Srinivasan1,
- Catherine Troman4,
- Christopher Uzzell4,
- Nicolette Zhou5
- 1Christian Medical College, Vellore, India;
- 2UK Health Security Agency;
- 3Malawi Liverpool Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Program, Blantyre, Malawi;
- 4Imperial College London;
- 5University of Washington
Protocol Citation: Dilip Abraham, Nicola Elviss, Nicholas Feasey, Nick Grassly, Jacob John, Gagandeep Kang, John Scott Meschke, Venkata Raghava Mohan, Satheesh Nair, Jonathan Rigby, Rajan Srinivasan, Catherine Troman, Christopher Uzzell, Nicolette Zhou 2022. Construction of a Moore Swab. protocols.io https://protocols.io/view/construction-of-a-moore-swab-bq84mzyw
Manuscript citation:
Reviving the “Moore Swab”: a Classic Environmental Surveillance Tool Involving Filtration of Flowing Surface Water and Sewage Water To Recover Typhoidal Salmonella Bacteria Michael J. Sikorski, Myron M. Levine Applied and Environmental Microbiology Jun 2020, 86 (13) e00060-20; DOI: 10.1128/AEM.00060-20
License: This is an open access protocol distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited
Protocol status: Working
We use this protocol and it’s working
Created: January 07, 2021
Last Modified: April 10, 2024
Protocol Integer ID: 46076
Keywords: Salmonella, Typhi, Paratyphi, wastewater, environmental surveillance
Disclaimer
Please note, the author list is in alphabetical order and does not reflect contribution.
Abstract
Moore swabs are gauze swabs used to capture bacteria in water such as sewage and wastewater. The gauze is held together by a string which is then tied to a stationary object in the water and left for 24-72 hours. During this time, as water moves past the swab bacteria are caught and attach to the swab, allowing isolation and identification for monitoring and surveillance of the bacteria of interest. This protocol based on the Moore swab construction described in Sikorski and Levine (2020).
Guidelines
The material used to tie the swab together may depend on the nature of the water it is being placed in. For example, if it is faster flowing or there are many solids in the water then you may require a stronger fishing line rather than twine to reduce loss of swabs.
Materials
Cotton gauze (6 x 48 inches)
A length of twine or fishing line (nylon thread)
Fold the gauze eight times length-wise to form an 8-ply square
Tie the gauze around the middle with twine/fishing line leaving a long tail for attaching the swab once it has been placed.