Jk. Pohlman et al., CONTROLLED CLINICAL-EVALUATION OF BACTEC PLUS AEROBIC F AND BACT/ALERT AEROBIC FAN BOTTLES FOR DETECTION OF BLOOD-STREAM INFECTIONS/, Journal of clinical microbiology, 33(11), 1995, pp. 2856-2858
A total of 7,190 blood culture sets were obtained from adult patients
with a suspected bloodstream infection. A 20-ml sample of blood was di
stributed equally between the aerobic FAN bottle which was monitored i
n the BacT/Alert system and a Plus Aerobic/F bottle which was monitore
d in the BACTEC 9240 system, A total of 988 positive cultures were obt
ained from 483 patients; however, only 453 positive cultures from 173
patients met the criteria for volume (greater than or equal to 8 mi pe
r bottle) and clinical significance on the basis of concurrent case re
view required for data analysis, There were 25 and 68 false positives
from the FAN and Plus Aerobic/F bottles, respectively, There were no s
tatistically significant differences between systems in the number of
positive cultures or septic episodes by species; however, the total nu
mber of Enterobacteriaceae and Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates combine
d was significantly greater in the FAN bottle (P = 0.04), Detection ti
mes did not differ significantly between systems for positive cultures
; however, episodes of Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia were detected
significantly more rapidly from the FAN bottle ( = 0.005), There was n
o significant difference between systems in the detection of bloodstre
am infections in patients receiving antibiotics at the time of blood c
ulture.