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Hospitalized children who show signs of infection and have increased risk of fungal infection may get separate fungal blood cultures (FBCs) drawn alongside bacterial cultures. FBCs also are frequently part of order sets for evaluating febrile patients. Investigators at a single large children’s hospital retrospectively reviewed the clinical utility of 540 FBCs drawn from 244 patients over 7 years.
54 (10%) of the FBC yielded a pathogen (46 fungal; 7 bacterial; 1 acid-fast bacillus).
Of the 46 fungal pathogens isolated, most (67%) were Candida species, including C. parapsilosis (14 cultures), C. albicans (9) and C. glabrata (4).
Only one FBC yielded a pathogen that the routine blood culture did not identify. In this case, FBC i…