Disposable diagnostic swab having a stored culture medium

Claim 1

A disposable diagnostic swab having a stored culture medium comprising: an elongated tubular member having an internal chamber, said chamber having an inner end and an outer end, said inner end being permanently closed, said outer end being normally closed by a removable cap, the wall of said elongated tubular member being substantially rigid but readily deflectable upon incurring a small amount of localized manual pressure; a pouch completely enclosing a quantity of culture medium, the wall of said pouch being constructed of a thin readily breakable material upon incurring a small amount of manual pressure, said pouch being located within said internal chamber at said inner end; a swab having a tip and and an aft end interconnected by an elongated swab body, said swab located within said internal chamber with said aft end located at said outer end and said tip located directly adjacent said pouch, whereby said pouch may be ruptured causing immersion of said tip by said culture medium; said internal chamber including an internal separating wall assembly to closely confine said swab, a portion of said internal separating wall assembly cooperating with said tubular member to substantially totally enclose said pouch, said internal separating wall assembly including a pair of spaced-apart wall members with each said wall member being substantially parallel to said swab body, said swab body being located between said wall members; and a flexible sealing member mounted on said swab adjacent said tip, said flexible sealing member to be in physical, liquid tight contact with said wall members which results in totally enclosing said pouch, said flexible sealing member to prevent the flow of culture medium longitudinally along said swab and therefore insure that said culture medium is confined to said tip of said swab.