What is a culture and sensitivity test?

A collection of a urine sample, blood sample or other body fluid samples are cultured in medium and analysed with for sensitivity. A “C&S” is a diagnostic lab procedure used to identify the type of bacteria and to determine which antibiotics can successfully fight an infection. C&S is primarily used to find bacteria. The absence of bacteria does not mean there is no infection, since it could be a virus that will not grow in a specific culture medium.