Why is the Virus Transport Medium red, inactivated & non-inactivated

When sampling for nucleic acid testing, you should have seen virus transport media tubes with light red liquid or even light yellow or colourless nucleic acid sampling tubes, so what exactly is the difference between them?

Virus preservation solutions are available in clear, red, light pink and yellow, and the various colours represent different virus preservation solutions. Virus preservation solutions are also known as nucleic acid preservation solutions, sample preservation solutions, etc. It is usually divided into inactivated and non-inactivated types.

Inactivated preservation fluid is usually colourless because its composition contains no colour. If the liquid has colour, it indicates that it has added the pH indicator phenol red and caused discolouration. When the liquid is alkaline, it appears a purplish red. When the liquid is neutral, it appears red; if it is acidic, the preservation fluid will turn yellow. You can also quickly determine whether the pH of the virus preservation solution has changed or whether bacteria and viruses have grown or degraded by observing the change in colour of the liquid.

Inactivated Virus Transport Medium

Inactivated virus preservation solution is added with decomposition salt and guanidine salt, which kills the virus and inhibits bacteria, can avoid secondary infection caused by virus leakage, and has high safety.

Non-inactivating virus transport media

Non-inactivating virus preservation solution does not inactivate the virus. Still, it helps the virus maintain its intact traits and prolongs its survival time in vitro, thus improving the accuracy of nucleic acid detection, which greatly benefits experts conducting scientific research on viral nucleic acids. Since viruses cannot survive in vitro and must be parasitized inside living cells, non-inactivating virus transport media can extend the survival time of cells parasitized on viruses and indirectly add liquid components to improve virus survival.