Specimen Collection, Storage, and Shipment

Collecting and shipping specimens from suspected measles cases

CDC recommends that either a nasopharyngeal swab, throat swab, or urine specimen as well as a blood specimen be collected from all patients with clinical features compatible with measles. Nasopharyngeal or throat swabs are preferred over urine specimens.

For U.S. patient specimens:

Please contact your state or local health department to determine where to submit specimens and how to ship them.

The CDC Infectious Diseases Laboratories provide guidance for measles specimen collection, storage, and shipment. Refer to the Infectious Diseases Laboratories Test Directory entry for each test, see links below, for instructions on specimen collection, storage, and shipment as well as points of contact for the tests.

Serology (serum specimens)

In addition to the information found on the CDC Infectious Diseases Laboratories Test Directory entry for each test, please note the following: Collect the first (acute-phase) serum specimen as soon as possible upon suspicion of measles disease. If the acute-phase serum specimen collected ≤3 days after rash onset is negative, and the case has a negative (or not done) result for real-time RT-PCR (rRT-PCR), a second serum specimen collected 3–10 days after symptom onset is recommended because, in some cases, the IgM response is not detectable until 3 days after symptom onset.

Real-time RT-PCR (nasopharyngeal, throat swabs, and urine specimens):

In addition to the information found on the CDC Infectious Diseases Laboratories Test Directory entry for each test, please note the following: Detection of measles RNA is most successful when specimens are collected on the first day of rash through the 3 days following onset of rash. Detection of measles RNA by rRT–PCR may be successful as late as 10-14 days after rash onset. Collect throat or nasopharyngeal swab specimens as soon as measles disease is suspected. rRT-PCR has the greatest diagnostic sensitivity when specimens are collected at first contact with a suspected case.

If instructed to send specimens to CDC from within the U.S., you must use the CDC Specimen Submission Form (50.34). The form can be downloaded from the CDC Infectious Diseases Laboratories’ Test Directory website. Please provide a Specimen Submission Form (50.34) for each specimen submitted. Submitters are encouraged to use the CDC Specimen Test Order and Reporting (CSTOR) Web Portal to submit specimens.

Please be sure to provide:

  • Contact name with telephone number and email address
  • Case ID and specimen ID from the submitting laboratory associated with the specimen
  • Type of virological specimen (throat swab, nasopharyngeal swab or urine), transport media (if applicable), and date collected
  • Date serum specimen collected
  • MMR vaccination history [date(s) if known]
  • Clinical signs and symptoms
  • Patient’s date of birth or age
  • Rash onset date
  • Any previous test results (if known)

For international shipments:

For international submissions, please contact Dr. Paul Rota, Dr. Bettina Bankamp or Dr. Stephen Crooke.

Please be sure to provide:

  • Contact name with telephone number and email address
  • Case ID and specimen ID from the submitting laboratory associated with the specimen
  • Type of virological specimen (throat swab, nasopharyngeal swab or urine), transport media (if applicable), and date collected
  • Date serum specimen collected
  • MMR vaccination history [date(s) if known]
  • Clinical signs and symptoms
  • Patient’s date of birth or age
  • Rash onset date
  • Any previous test results (if known)

For international shipments, refer to the Infectious Diseases Laboratories Test Directory entry for each test, see links above.

Page last reviewed: February 10, 2022