Skin and soft tissue infections can occur as a result of a break in the skin surface, or they can occur Pus, wound, abscess from surgery; trauma; human, animal, or insect bites; or diseases that interrupt a mucosal or skin surface. Specimen collection is importance for these specimen types. For open lesions or abscesses, the superficial normal flora by decontaminate the superficial normal flora from the skin before collecting a specimen from the advancing margin or base. A closed abscess is the specimen site of choice. Aspirate the abscess or fluid contents with a syringe.

Any microorganism found where no resident flora is present is considered significant and is reported. For specimens contaminated with the usual bacterial flora, bacteria that are potentially pathogenic are identified.