On culture and blood cultures

Abstract

Dogma is defined as “a belief or set of beliefs that is accepted by the members of a group without being questioned or doubted” (https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/dogma; accessed May 2, 2023). Everyone who has worked in different healthcare institutions, maybe even in different countries, knows that there are local ‘dogmas’ that are not evidence-based.( 1 Hofmaenner D.A. Singer M. Challenging management dogma where evidence is non-existent, weak or outdated. Intensive Care Med. 2022; 48: 548-558 Crossref PubMed Scopus (7) Google Scholar ) Indeed, one may identify dogmas as such only once one has been confronted with other, possibly opposing ‘dogmas’ elsewhere. The question of whether, for which patients, at what interval(s), and how often to repeat blood cultures in the case of Gram-negative bacteremia may be an example. We, the authors of this commentary, are used to settings where local culture holds that follow-up blood cultures (FUBCs) should be reserved for Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia (for endovascular-infection risk stratification) or for patients without improvement despite antibiotic therapy (Fig. 1).