Additional Blood Cultures Research Articles

Anti-Candida antibodies in patients with acute leukemia: A prospective study

Serial determinations of anti-Candida agglutinating and precipitating antibodies were carried out prospectively over a period of eighteen months on 154 patients with acute leukemia. During this study visceral candidiasis developed in fourteen patients. A significant rise in agglutinating antibody titer was noted in seven of these patients, and in three additional patients blood cultures grew Candida species. Thus an antemortem diagnosis of candidiasis was made in ten of fourteen patients with this infection. A “false” rise in antibody titer occurred in patients with other disseminated fungal infections, in patients with fever of unknown origin which resolved spontaneously with regression in the patient's leukemia and in one patient with pulmonary tuberculosis. We recommend serial determinations of anti-Candida agglutinating antibody titers in groups of patients known to have increased susceptibility to fungal infections, as this is the most reliable means for diagnosing visceral candidiasis.

Occurrence of Diphtheroids in Blood Cultures

Since the preliminary report1 on this work was issued, more than 400 additional blood cultures have been made, making a total of 1,079. Since the first report, a few cultures of diphtheroids have been encountered which showed growth in forty-eight hours, but in the majority a longer time elapsed before growth appeared. The methods employed have been described previously. Blood agar plates were made in all cases in which blood cultures were made, as a matter of routine, but they were usually discarded after two or three days. In 2 cases diphtheroids appeared on the plates, as well as in the broth, but the colonies were few. In 1 case a single colony was found on a plate, and in another case a row of 5 small surface colonies appeared on a plate. The principal object was to test the hypothesis recently advanced by Koch and Mellon 2 that diphtheroids are found in the blood stream in persons convalescent from streptococcal infections. It was known that diphtheroids had been found occasionally in blood cultures, and it was thought that by making a rather large series of cultures it would be possible to correlate the presence of diphtheroids in the blood culture with the type of case. In the accompanying tabulation are listed the results in those cases in which diphtheroids were found. The 1,079 blood cultures were made in 730 cases, and 33 cultures of diphtheroids were obtained in 30 cases, an incidence of 3 per cent. The literature on diphtheroids has been well reviewed by Thomson and Thomson,3 and more recently by Kessel and Romanoff4 with respect to generalized infections by diphtheroids. In view of the fact that an adequate classification of diphtheroids does not exist, it is difficult to know definitely what should or should not be included under