CULTURE OF DIALYSATE IN SUSPECTED CAPD ASSOCIATED PERITONITIS USING THE BACT ALERT SYSTEM/

The BacT/Alert blood culture system was evaluated as a method of cultu ring dialysates by comparing inoculation of culture bottles directly ( DBTA) or after centrifugation of 50 mL of dialysate (CBTA) with conven tional culture. Of the 122 dialysates cultured, 84 were positive by on e of the 3 methods. After eliminating contaminants, DBTA and CBTA dete cted 84% (59 of 70) and 93% (65 of 70) of the positive cultures, respe ctively, compared to 77% (54 to 70) for conventional culture. CBTA and DBTA detected 87% (82 of 94) and 73% (68 of 94) of the significant or ganisms isolated, respectively, compared to 61% (57 of 94) by conventi onal culture. However, 60% of the contaminants occurred with the CBTA method. When a dialysate was positive by all 3 methods, both BacT/Aler t methods detected growth earlier by a mean of almost 19 hours. The Ba cT/Alert system is a useful alternative method for culturing dialysate s with the advantages of an earlier detection of positive cultures and minimal handling for the processing of negative cultures. (C) 1996 El sevier Science Inc.