Primary Care

Test Code: 4479

CPT Code(s): Not applicable

Clinical Significance: Aside from well-accepted environmental cultures such as monitoring sterilization practices and monthly cultures of hospital waters and dialysate fluids, all other environmental microbiological investigations should be performed only as part of epidemiologic investigations in which environmental or medical-device surfaces may represent microbial reservoirs or sources of health care-associated pathogens.

Test code: 14541

CPT code(s): 87070

Clinical significance: The significance of any isolate in pure or mixed culture must be assessed with respect to the source cultured, the organism's pathogenic potential, the possibility of colonization versus infection, and the number of other organisms recovered in the same culture.

Test Code: 11479

CPT Code(s): 87880

Test Code: 4485

CPT Code(s): 87081

Test Code: 10019

Test Code: 8801

Test code: 4556

CPT code(s): 87070, 87205

Clinical significance:
Isolation of potential respiratory pathogens can be useful in the diagnosis of respiratory tract infection. This specimen may contain normal oral flora. The significance of any isolate must be evaluated with this in mind.

Includes:

Test code: 4554

Test Code: 8631

CPT Code(s): 87046

Clinical Significance: Escherichia coli O157, Culture - Infection by shiga toxin producing Escherichia coli (STEC) can cause self-limiting diarrhea to hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS). Serotype O157:H7, the most frequently isolated, has been isolated in large food outbreaks and sporadic cases.

Test Code: 8625

CPT Code: 87329