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The time-honored method of detecting bloodstream infections is to culture a patient's blood. Automation of blood cultures, organism identification, and antimicrobial sensitivity has contributed to the specificity and speed of this process. However, even with these advances, the time from collection to end result is measured in days, which means that patients will be continued on empiric broad-spectrum antibiotics for longer than necessary and that antimicrobial-resistant microbes may emerge. This delay, along with the inherent suboptimal sensitivity of culture, has prompted the development of culture-independent diagnostic methods.
To test one such nonculture method, investigators conducted an industry-sponsored prospective, multicenter stud…