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A comparison of two blood culture procedures for the isolation of staphylococci in a paediatric intensive care unit.

Belli ML, Ugolotti E, Fenu ML, Mantero E, Ceccarelli R

Laboratory for Immunocompromised Host, Gaslini Children's Hospital, Genoa, Italy. labospimm@ospedale-gaslini.ge.it

Blood culture results obtained between January 2000 and July 2003 were reviewed for 1360 patients in a paediatric intensive care unit (PICU). The BacT/Alert FA aerobic medium was used with a blood volume of 1.5 mL for the first 23 months, and the BacT/Alert PF paediatric medium was used with a 0.5-mL volume for the remaining 18 months. The isolation rates were similar during both periods (13.4% vs. 13.1%), and staphylococci were the most common isolates (72.8%). There was a shorter time to detection of staphylococci with the smaller-volume (PF) procedure, which thus seems suitable for use in the diagnosis of staphylococcal bacteraemia in the PICU.

Published 25 November 2005 in Clin Microbiol Infect, 11(12): 1035-7.
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