Title: contamination
Long Title: IUPAC Gold Book - contamination
DOI: 10.1351/goldbook.C01295
Status: current

Definition
Carry-over from a preceding sample probe into a following specimen cup, which will influence not just one result, but all assays on that specimen, or with that reagent.

Related Terms
- Carry-over: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/C00866
- reagent: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/R05190

Source
- PAC, 1991, 63, 301. 'Proposals for the description and measurement of carry-over effects in clinical chemistry (Recommendations 1991)' on page 302 (https://doi.org/10.1351/pac199163020301)

Other Outputs
- html: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/C01295/html
- json: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/C01295/json
- xml: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/C01295/xml

Citation: Citation: 'contamination' in IUPAC Compendium of Chemical Terminology, 5th ed. International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry; 2025. Online version 5.0.0, 2025. 10.1351/goldbook.C01295
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Disclaimer: The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) is continuously reviewing and, where needed, updating terms in the Compendium of Chemical Terminology (the IUPAC Gold Book). Users of these terms are encouraged to include the version of a term with its use and to check regularly for updates to term definitions that you are using.
Accessed: 2026-04-27T16:01:13+00:00