0 a small piece of soft material used for cleaning a cut or for taking a small amount of substance from a body, or the substance itself that can then be tested:
1 to wash a surface, especially the open, flat areas of a ship, with a wet cloth or mop
2 to clean a cut or take a small amount of substance from a body using a small piece of soft material
3 a small piece of soft material at the end of a thin stick, used esp. for cleaning something or for putting on medicine:
a cotton swab
These tests were performed to compare the number of swabs with no growth.
Much more bacteria were isolated from the tonsillar swab and for a longer successive period than from the nasal swab.
Environmental swab specimens were taken from several locations of the food processing equipment after it had been cleaned using routine cleaning procedures.
Environmental samples were taken with swabs moistened in brain heart infusion broth and processed as above.
The 10 swabs were tested both individually and as one pooled sample.
From each family member, a nasopharyngeal swab was obtained at initial home visit and followed by 9 further swabs at 4-week intervals.
The livers and tongues were swabbed just after removal of the pluck and the carcasses immediately before or after blast chilling.
It was quite surprising that the nasal swab is related to the infection rate parameter and the tonsillar swab not.