A Single-Sampling Blood Culture Strategy?

An uncommon approach involving six bottles drawn during a single venipuncture, together with pathogen-specific interpretation, showed high positive predictive values for major pathogens.

When bloodstream infections are suspected, the diagnostic work-up usually includes two or three pairs of blood cultures, using samples from two or three separate blood draws. However, recent studies have suggested that similar results can be obtained by drawing all bottles at the same time through a single venipuncture. To assess this strategy, investigators in France retrospectively evaluated blood culture diagnostics results from 2007 and 2008 at their institution, where blood culture sets are routinely drawn six bottles (3 aerobic, 3 anaerobic) at a time, after thorough skin disinfection with alcohol and chlorhexidine.

Among 7250 such blood culture sets drawn from 4424 adults, the researchers identified 805 episodes (involving 720 patient…

Reviewing Author

Thomas Glück, MD

Disclosures

Editorial BoardsConsilium Infectiorum by InfectoPharm, Infection

Thomas Glück, MD

Disclosures

Editorial BoardsConsilium Infectiorum by InfectoPharm, Infection