A flexible tubular device designed to be introduced into a lung, via the upper airway and past the primary bronchus, to obtain a sample of lung mucus secretion by syringe suction for the diagnosis of lung infection (typically ventilator-associated pneumonia). The distal tip is shielded with a bioabsorbable polymer sheath designed to degrade following insertion and intended to protect the tip from microbial contamination as it passes through the airway to the sampling site. This is a single-use device.