Dear Lothian NHS Board,

Freedom of Information Enquiries

I am writing to you under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 to request the following information from NHS Forth Valley Health Board, and/or/including information from Clinical Testing Laboratories and Sample Collection Vehicle Conditions

I ask for information regarding for testing for the following bacterium species affecting Humans – Actinomyces israelii and Actinomyces gerencseria and other Actinomyces Genus which are antibiotic resistant. Also can the following be tested for -Propionibacterium propionicus which can often minic Acinomycisis infections

The Actonomyces Bacterium degrade extreme quickly upon exposure to oxygen thus rendering testing impossible.

“Cultures should be placed immediately under anaerobic conditions and incubated for 48 hours or longer; the isolation and definitive identification of actinomycetes may require 2-3 weeks” - From

http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/21...

To this regard

Question 1
Do the NHS vans that transport samples have a vacuum chamber contained within for such delicate samples?

Question 2
What conditions are the samples held in once arriving at the Clinical Testing Laboratory

Question 3
Does the Clinical Testing Laboratories have a vacuum chamber for such delicate samples.

Question 4
Does the Clinical Testing Laboratories use an electron microscope to identify pathogens.

Question 5
The woman who I believe I passed Actinomycosis to (via sexual intercourse or via oral sex) only had Actinomycosis identified by use of an electron Microscope at Infectious Diseases and Communicable Laboratories in Edinburgh.
Are suspected cases of Actinomycoses infections, Maxiofacial, Thoracic, Pelvic and Gastroenteral routinely sent to Infectious and Communicable Diseases Laboratories in your area?

Question 7
To my knowledge Culture Testing for Actinomycois infections require up to three weeks. Please explain why NHS Laboratories only test cultures for one week in total? Quote from my own test result 24/02/17 - “Culture – No Growth. Culture will be incubated for 7 days in total. No further report will be issued unless culture becomes positive”

Question 8
In the UK Actinomycosis with antibiotic resistance incidence is quoted on NHS website as 1:300000. In Holland and Germany the incidence is quoted as 1:100000. In Pelvic Actinomycosis in the UK (female infections) the IUD is blamed as causation in 10% of cases yet in the USA it is (One Tenth of One Percent).

Please provide the figures of cases of Actinomycosis with antibiotic resistance identified in both men and women in Lothian NHS from 2000 to 2016

Please provide the information in the form of written reply or to my email address below

If it is not possible to provide the information requested due to the information exceeding the cost of compliance limits identified in Section 12, please provide advice and assistance, under your Section 16 obligations, as to how I can refine my request to be included in the scope of the Act.

In any case, if you can identify ways that my request could be refined please provide further advice and assistance to indicate this.

I look forward to your response within 20 working days, as stipulated by the Act.

If you have any queries please don’t hesitate to contact me via email or phone and I will be happy to clarify what I am asking for, my details are outlined below.

Yours faithfully,

C N Bruce