WO2014132082A1

WO2014132082A1 - Apparatus for collecting samples on a swab

Info

Publication number: WO2014132082A1
Application number: PCT/GB2014/050606
Authority: WO
Inventors: Colin Lyon
Original assignee: Lab5 Limited
Priority date: 2013-03-01
Filing date: 2014-02-28
Publication date: 2014-09-04
Also published as: GB201303730D0

Abstract

Apparatus comprising a tube having at least two connecting sections: the first section including a swab mounted at an end thereof; the second section comprising a test; said first and second sections being arranged such that they are separable.

Description

APPARATUS FOR COLLECTING SAMPLES ON A SWAB

The present invention relates to apparatus for use in collecting samples for analysis. More particularly it relates to apparatus for collecting samples to detect the presence of one or more drugs.

While the apparatus of the present invention may be utilised for collecting a range of samples for analysis, for convenience it will be described in terms of apparatus used for detecting the presence of drugs. For ease of reference in the present application the term "drug" and "drugs" will be used to refer to any material which has been added to a beverage without the consent of the consumer. As will be explained in more detail below, the term will include alcohol, prescription pharmaceuticals, over the counter pharmaceuticals, illegal substances and the like.

It is desirable to provide a simple test to enable users to establish whether drugs are, or have been, present at a locale. Similarly it is desirable to provide a simple test to enable said users to establish whether a party has been in contact with drugs either on their skin or clothing. Users will include law enforcement officers, officers of government agencies, personnel in businesses, educational establishments, and the like, parents and indeed general consumers.

This may be particularly attractive where the users are trying to establish whether drugs such as those from the benzodiazepine family, gamma hydroxybutyrafe, 3,4- methylenedioxy~N~mefhyiamphetamine (also known as IvIDMA or Ecstasy), ketamines, cannabis and the like are being used in bars, clubs and the like where the area is crowded and the lighting may not be good.

Whilst there are a variety of established technologies available for testing for drugs, these are generally based on laboratory or clinical tests and are therefore time consuming and expensive to run and require the use of clean rooms and for strict protocols to be observed. They therefore do not assist the users at the time of an inspection of a locale or when first coming into contact with a suspect. Various proposals have been made to provide test apparatus which can be used at the site. In US 6153147 a beverage analysis device is described in which a portion of liquid from the beverage can be captured and drawn into an analysis chamber where it is subjected to a chemical reagent composition and the results of the colour assay are viewed through a window.

In US 2001/0046710 a test strip, toothpick or cotton swab is described which can be immersed into a beverage and which will exhibit a colour change when gamma hydroxybutyrate is present in the beverage.

In GB 2383130 a test strip is described which is particularly useful for the detection of gamma hydroxybutyrate or methylene dioxymethamphetamine. The test strip may be replaced with a coaster having a plurality of testing means.

WO 03/021254 describes a test apparatus in which one or more solid, chemical colorimetric indicators are embedded in the surface of a porous substrate,

WO 2005/059541 describes a test kit for detecting the presence of one or more drugs in a beverage comprising a support having a plurality of detector strips permanently attached thereto wherein the support is sized such that when it is folded into two parts a first part is laid over the strips which are attached to the second part. The strips may be releasably attached to the support,

Whilst many of these arrangements are useful if the suspected drug is in a beverage so that it is in a liquid form, they are not useful for assessing the presence of drugs which are not in liquids.

Where surfaces and the like are to be tested for the presence of drugs it is generally necessary to apply a damp or wet swab to the surface and then either send the swab to the laboratory for analysis or then apply the swab to a support carrying an assay such as that described in WO 2005/088297. However it is not sufficient to just take, for example, a cotton swab and apply wafer to it before carrying oui a test since either the sensitivity of the test and/or the admissibility and reliability of the results in a court of law requires that the swab be clean at the time of first use. Swabs are therefore often supplied in sealed packages. Whilst this ensures cleanliness, opening the package can be awkward and requires concentration at a time when a law enforcement officer may have to be dealing with aggressive suspects. There is also a risk that it could be argued that the swab has become contaminated during the opening of the package leading to a false positive result.

A further problem is it is necessary to be certain that the liquid used to wet the swab could not have contained any drug which would lead to a false positive result as this would result in difficulties during any subsequent legal proceedings. It may also be desirable to control the amount of liquid applied to the swab to control the level of "wetness" of the swab. It has therefore been suggested that a measured amount of liquid can be supplied in the handle of the swab. Whilst this addresses the problems associated with cleanliness and volume of the liquid, it is a requirement that the device has to include means for enabling the liquid to come into contact with the swab and the operation of this can further complicate the operation.

Further problems can be encountered when the swab, having been used to swab surfaces, has to be brought into contact with the test. In arrangements where the assay is mounted on a support it can be difficult to correctly align the swab with the test and/or to prove that the assay could not have been tampered with before the swab was applied. The test will generally be paper or the like impregnated with the appropriate reagent(s) which react when brought into contact with the drug being detected.

Even when the materia! to be tested is in liquid form such that it is not necessary to wet the swab, the problems in correctly aligning the swab with the test and/or proving that the assay could not have been tampered with before the swab was applied. a protective environment from which it can readily be removed. In one arrangement is is desirable that when it is removed it will have the desired level of wetness. It may also be desirable to provide means for connecting the swab with the test and to protect the integrity of the test.

Thus according to the present invention there is provided apparatus comprising a tube having at least two connecting sections:

the first section including a swab mounted at an end thereof;

the second section comprising a test;

said first and second sections being arranged such that they are separable.

The tube may be of any suitable configuration, In one arrangement it may be of cylindrical configuration but tubes of other cross-sections such as triangular, square, pentagonal, hexagonal and the like may be used.

In one arrangement, the first and second sections may be connected via a frangible flange. The flange may be broken by any suitable means. In one arrangement, it may be broken by the relative twisting of the two sections.

In one alternative arrangement, the first and second sections may be configured such that one is a snap fit with the other.

In a further arrangement, there may interlocking means between the first and second sections. Thus, for example, one of the first and second sections may include a pin which slides into a corresponding channel on the second section and is retained therein. The retention of the pin may be by means of a clip or the like or the channel may have an angled section such that in use once the pin is pushed down to the end of the first portion of the channel, one of the first and second sections can be twisted relative to the other such that the pin moves into the angled section of the channel thereby preventing the sections from being separated by pulling apart.

In one arrangement, at least one of the first and second sections may include a vial comprising a liquid. In one arrangement, the vial may be caused to release the liquid as the first and second sections are separated.

The vial may be broken by any suitable means. In one arrangement, the vial may be punctured or otherwise caused to break. In the arrangement where the two sections are separated by twisting, the twisting action may cause the puncturing or breaking of the vial.

In an alternative arrangement, the vial may not be broken as the first and second sections are separated. In this arrangement, the section or sections containing the vial will include means to enable the user to choose if and when to break the vial. This may be achieved by any suitable means. In one arrangement, the vial may be broken by the user depressing a portion of the section. This pressure alone may be sufficient to break the vial. Alternatively, the section may be constructed such that means such as pins, springs, and the like may be present such that they are activated when the user depresses a portion of the section.

The vial may be made of any suitable material, Suitable materials include glass and plastics.

The swab mounted at the end of the first section of the tube may extend across the width of the tube but generally it will be arranged such that it is mounted on an extension from the first section of the tube so that before the sections are separated, the swab is located within, and protected by the second section.

The swab may be made of any suitable material, Generally it will be made of an inert absorbent material such as cotton.

In one arrangement, the apparatus may include the test material. In one arrangement, the test material may be located within the second section or may be located on a surface thereof. Generally it will be located at a suitable position within the second section such that once the swab has been contacted with the surfaces to be screened, the first and second sections are reassembled such that the swab and the test come into contact with each other.

In an alternative arrangement, the test may be located in the second section of the tube remote from the original position of the swab and accessible from the end of the tube remote from that from which the swab was removed. Thus the swab is contacted with the test by being applied to the end remote from that from which it was removed. In one arrangement, a cap may be provided to protect the test when not in use.

The test is preferably one which shows a result by means of a colour change and the user can then remove the swab to assess whether the required colour change has occurred.

In one arrangement, the result of the test may be seen by viewing through the opening through which the first section has been removed or under the cap where present.

In one arrangement, the section including the test, or a portion thereof, may be formed from a transparent material such that the results can be readily viewed. In one alternate arrangement, the section may be opaque and a portion of the section may be openable so that the results can be viewed. The portion which openable can be hinged or in one other arrangement may be slidable. In another arrangement it may be completely removable.

Where the cover is openable, if a positive result is noted, it will generally be closed in preparation for evidence submission. In this arrangement, means for locking the openable portion in place may be provided to prevent unauthorised access to the test results. Any suitable means for locking the openable portion may be provided.

In an alternative arrangement, the test may not be visiable to the user but the apparatus may include means for detecting the result and then transmitting the result to a display provided on the surface of one of the sections.

Any suitable tests may be used. Suitable tests include those described in WO2005/088297 which is incorporated herein by reference. The present invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: is an illustration of one arrangement of the apparatus of the present invention before the two sections are separated;

is an illustration of the arrangement of Figure 1 after the two sections have been separated;

shows the swab ready for use in swabbing surfaces;

is a schematic representation of the test compartment being exposed in one arrangement;

is an illustration of the end of the second section showing the test, is a schematic representation of one means of bringing the swab into contact with the test;

illustrates the results achieved;

is an illustration of an alternative arrangement of the apparatus of the present invention from above;

is a side view of the arrangement of Figure 7;

is a schematic representation of the sections being separated to release the swab:

is a schematic representation of the second section being clipped to the first section;

shows the swab in use with a wet sample;

shows the swab in use with a dry sample;

shows the cover having been opened from the test sample so that the swab can be contact with the test; and

illustrates the closure of the apparatus.

As illustrated in Figure 1 the apparatus comprises a tube 1 having at least two sections, a first section 2 and a second section 3, The second section 3 has a cap 4 Iocated at the end thereof remote from the first section. Twisting the first section 2 relative to the second section 3 will cause the seal 5 between the two sections to break allowing them to be separated. A vial of liquid (not shown) is located within one of the sections and is punctured as the sections are separated,

The separated sections are shown in Figure 2 which also shows the located of a swab 8. The swab which will now be wetted by the correct amount of liquid can be used to swab surfaces. The swab may be applied to a variety of surfaces including wood, metal, plastics, textiles and even human skin as illustrated in Figure 3,

The swab can then ready to be connected with the test, The cap 4 can then be removed from the second section 3. In one arrangement it is connected to the section by a hinge as shown in Figure 4. Figure 4a shows the test surface located under the hinge. The swab can then be applied to the test surface as shown in Figure 5, The results can then be assessed as shown in Figure 6. The test is a colour change and so no colour change 8a indicates a negative result. A colour change 8b indicates a positive result.

An alternative arrangement is illustrated in Figures 7 and 8. In this arrangement, the apparatus comprises a tube 10 which comprises a first section 12 and a second section 13. The first section 12 includes a fluid release pressure point 14. Depressing this point will cause the vial, not shown, to be broken, The second section 13 includes the test which is located below the protection cover 15.

The first and second sections are pulled apart to release the swab 16 as illustrated in Figure 9.

As illustrated in Figure 10 The portion of the first section 12 remote from the swab 16 may be shaped such that the removed second section can be clip thereto while testing takes place.

If the material to be tested is a liquid, the apparatus can be used directly as shown in Figure 1 1. If it is dry, the fluid pressure point 14 can be depressed to release fluid and thereby damp the swab.

The openabie section of the second section can then be opened to reveal the test. Once a positive test is obtained as shown in Figure 14, the first and second sections can be reconnected and the openabie section closed in preparation for evidence submission.

Claims

1 , Apparatus comprising a tube having at least two connecting sections:

the first section including a swab mounted at an end thereof;

the second section comprising a test;

said first and second sections being arranged such that they are separable.

2 Apparatus according to Claim 1 wherein the first and second sections are connected via a frangible flange.

3. Apparatus according to Claim 1 wherein the first and second sections are configured such that one is a snap fit with the other.

4. Apparatus according to Claim 1 or 3 wherein interlocking means are located between the first and second sections.

5. Apparatus according to Claim 4 wherein one of the first and second sections includes a pin and the other of the first and second sections includes a channel. ø. Apparatus according to any one of Claims 1 to 5 wherein at least one of the first and second sections include a vial comprising a liquid.

7. Apparatus according to Claim 6 wherein the apparatus is configured to cause the vial to release the liquid as the first and second sections are separated.

8. Apparatus according to Claim 7 wherein the section containing the vial includes means to enable the user to cause the vial to break.

9 Apparatus according to Claim 8 wherein a portion of the section is depressable to cause the vial to break.

10. Apparatus according to any one of Claims 1 to 9 wherein the swab is made of an inert absorbent material such as cotton.

11. Apparatus according to any one of Claims 1 to 10 wherein the apparatus includes the test material

12. Apparatus according to Claim 11 wherein the test material is located within the second section or is located on a surface thereof.

13. Apparatus according to Claim 11 wherein the test is located in the second section of the tube remote from an original position of the swab and accessible from the end of the tube remote from that from which the swab was removed.

14. Apparatus according to any one of Claims 11 to 13 wherein the test is one which shows a result by means of a colour change.

15. Apparatus according to any one of Claims 11 to 14 wherein a portion of the second section is openable to enable the swab to be contacted with the test materia! and/or to view the results.

16. Apparatus according to Claim 15 wherein the openable portion is hinged or slidable.