BLOOD CULTURE VOLUME AND DETECTION OF COAGULASE-NEGATIVE STAPHYLOCOCCAL SEPTICEMIA IN NEONATES

A prospective, blind study was carried out to determine: the amount of blood submitted for culture from neonates; whether small blood volume s resulted in false negative results; and whether there was a temporal relation between volume of blood cultured and time to positivity. Sev enty three bottles were evaluated. They contained a median of 0.63 mi of blood. Twenty nine bottles (39.7%) contained less than 0.5 ml of bl ood; 21 bottles (28.8%) were positive. There were three false negative cultures, only one of which contained a blood volume below 0.5 ml. Th e median time to positivity was 22.4 hours. There was no correlation b etween blood volume cultured and time to positivity. Neonatal cultures frequently contain less than 0.5 ml of blood. False negative cultures are rare. Neonatal blood culture bottles need to be validated for blo od volumes below 0.5 ml.