Abstract
BackgroundBlood volume may profoundly affect the isolation of microorganisms in blood cultures. The effect of blood volume in standard anaerobic bottles of the BacT/ALERT 3D system was investigated.MethodsAdult patients who visited the emergency department and referred for blood culture (n = 824) were enrolled from June to September 2013. Two sets of blood cultures were obtained from each patient. One set consisted of 5 mL that was collected in a standard aerobic bottle (SA5), 5 mL that was collected in a standard anaerobic bottle (SN5), and 10 mL that was collected in a standard anaerobic bottle (SN10). The growth of clinically significant pathogens and the time to detection (TTD) were compared between the SN5 and SN10 samples.ResultsIncreasing the volume of blood collected from 5 to 10 mL yielded a 14.7% improvement in the isolation of microorganisms. There was a statistically significant difference in the isolation of pathogens (14 vs. 30, P = 0.023) between the SN5 and SN10 samples. Gram-positive microorganisms were detected earlier in the SN10 samples than the SN5 samples (P = 0.052). The mean TTD of all pathogens was 13.5 h for the SN5 samples and 12.9 h for the SN10 samples (P = 0.099).ConclusionIncreased blood volume in the SN bottle yielded a significantly higher pathogen detection rate. However, there was no difference in the frequency of earlier detection or TTD between the SN5 and SN10 samples.
Highlights
Blood culture is essential for the diagnosis of sepsis
One set consisted of 5 mL that was collected in a standard aerobic bottle (SA5), 5 mL that was collected in a standard anaerobic bottle (SN5), and 10 mL that was collected in a standard anaerobic bottle (SN10)
Weinstein et al [6] reported that the microorganisms isolated were significantly different when blood volume was increased in an aerobic culture bottle
Summary
Blood culture is essential for the diagnosis of sepsis. There are several parameters that impact the success of blood culture, including blood collection time, blood sample amount, the number of blood collection sets, and skin disinfection. Weinstein et al [6] reported that the microorganisms isolated were significantly different when blood volume was increased in an aerobic culture bottle. We could not find a report in the literature of the effect of blood volume on microorganism isolation in an anaerobic culture bottle. We used a BacT/ALERT 3D system (bioMererieux Inc., Durham, NC, USA) with standard aerobic (SA) and standard anaerobic (SN) bottles for blood cultures. Blood samples (5 mL and 10 mL) were collected in two different SN bottles to observe the effect of increased blood volume in anaerobic bottles on the isolation capability and speed of detection of microorganisms in an automatic blood culture system. The effect of blood volume in standard anaerobic bottles of the BacT/ALERT 3D system was investigated
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