Comparative study of BacT/Alert FAN bottles and standard BacT/Alert bottles

A total of 5,230 paired blood cultures were sstudied. One sample was divide d between aerobic and anaerobic BacT/Alert standard bottles, and the other divided between aerobic and anaerobic BacT/Alert FAN bottles. There mere 44 occasions where Staphylococcus aureus was I recovered only from the FAN bo ttles, compared to six where only the standard: bottles were positive (p < 0.001), and 21 occasions where Escherichia coli was isolated only from FAN bottles, compared to eight occasion where only the standard bottles were po sitive for this organism (p < 0.05). In 21 of 28 cases reviewed where S. au reus was isolated from FAN bottles only the patient had been receiving anti -staphylococcal antibiotics. However, only 2 of 30 cases where Gram-negativ e bacilli were isolated from FAN bottles had documented recent appropriate antibiotic therapy. Patients iii whom FAN bottles ave more likely to recove r organisms cannot be selected on the basis of documented antibotic treatme nt. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Inc.