Mp. Weinstein et al., CONTROLLED EVALUATION OF BACT ALERT STANDARD AEROBIC AND FAN AEROBIC BLOOD CULTURE BOTTLES FOR DETECTION OF BACTEREMIA AND FUNGEMIA, Journal of clinical microbiology, 33(4), 1995, pp. 978-981
A new medium, FAN, designed to enhance the recovery of microorganisms,
has been developed for the BacT/Alert blood culture system (Organon T
eknika Corp., Durham, N.C.). We compared the yield and speed of detect
ion of microorganisms in 6,847 adequately filled paired aerobic standa
rd and FAN bottles at four university hospitals. Of 499 clinically sig
nificant microorganisms isolated from one or both bottles, significant
ly more Staphylococcus aureus isolates (P < 0.001), coagulase-negative
staphylococci (P < 0.001), yeasts (P < 0.01), and all microorganisms
combined (P < 0.001) were recovered from the FAN bottles. Overall, the
speeds of detection of positive cultures did not differ between the t
wo medium formulations; mean times to detection in the standard and FA
N bottles were 16.1 and 16.0 h, respectively. When a subset of patient
s on antimicrobial therapy was evaluated, significantly enhanced yield
from the FAN bottle was evident for staphylococci. Overall, the FAN b
ottle outperformed the standard aerobic BacT/Alert bottle.