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Unexplained fever in children with central venous catheters (CVCs) may be a sign of catheter-associated bloodstream infection; usually the children receive antibiotics until bacteremia is ruled out. When can blood cultures for such children be considered sterile and antibiotics be stopped? Investigators recently conducted a retrospective cohort study at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia to answer this question.
The researchers reviewed data relating to children who presented to the ambulatory services between 2000 and 2003 with a CVC and suspected infection, whose blood culture from the CVC grew a recognized pathogen. All blood cultures had been incubated using the BacT/Alert system, which monitors for microbial growth every 10 minutes…