For a stool culture, the lab will need a fresh or refrigerated sample of stool. The best samples are of loose, fresh stool; well-formed stool is rarely positive for disease-causing bacteria. Sometimes, more than one stool will be collected for a culture. Swabs from a child's rectum also can be tested for viruses.
Miraa- is a plant whose fresh leaves and soft twigs are chewed to release a juice containing cathinone and cathine, the active chemicals that alter the mood of the abuser. Catha edulis appears to have originated in Ethiopia. It spread early on to Somalia, Djibouti, Eritrea and the Arabian Peninsula.
In other words, when you chew gum with xylitol (or use it as a sweetener), the sugar metabolism in the bacteria is blocked and they literally starve to death (10). In one study, using xylitol-sweetened chewing gum reduced levels of the bad bacteria by 27-75%, while it had no effect on the friendly bacteria (11).