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A member asked:

Is it normal to take a stool sample for a bacterial infection?

2 doctors weighed in across 2 answers

Depends: If indicated yes, most of the time not necessary.

Answered 10/3/2016

5.7k views

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Depends: If a person has bloody diarrhea and a gut bacteria like salmonella is suspected a stool sample might confirm it. You don't get one just because someone might have a "bacterial infection" somewhere in their body. You might, but only to exclude it in such a case.

Answered 1/10/2018

426 views

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