Register for email alerts and news feeds:
This journal | BMJ Group
rss
Journal of Clinical Pathology 1984;37:568-570; doi:10.1136/jcp.37.5.568
Copyright © 1984 by the BMJ Publishing Group Ltd & Association of Clinical Pathologists.

Effect of volume of blood cultured on detection of Streptococcus viridans bacteraemia.

D C Shanson, F Thomas, D Wilson

Fifty eight patients undergoing dental extraction each had 45 ml blood collected. This was divided into 30 ml and 15 ml blood samples for culture. The 30 ml sample was inoculated into 120 ml nutrient broth with 0.05% liquoid and the 15 ml sample into 60 ml of identical broth so that the final dilution of blood in broth was always 1/5. Bacteraemia due to viridans streptococci was found in 27 and 15 patients by culturing the 30 ml and 15 ml blood samples respectively. Only one further case of streptococcal bacteraemia was detected by culture of the total volume of blood collected (45 ml) rather than culture of the 30 ml blood sample alone. These findings suggest that the culture of 30 ml blood results in the detection of up to 80% more blood cultures yielding Streptococcus viridans than the culture of only 15 ml blood. The collection of more than 30 ml blood for each culture is unlikely to prove worthwhile. It is suggested that 30 ml rather than 15 ml blood is probably the optimal volume of blood for each culture of S viridans when patients with suspected infective endocarditis are investigated.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Complore Complore   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

  • WILKINS, E.G.L. (1987). Liquoid in Blood Cultures. ANN INTERN MED 106: 912-912 [Abstract]  

This Article

Services
Citing Articles
Google Scholar
PubMed
Bookmark with

Register for free content

The full back archive is now available for all BMJ Journals. Institutional subscribers may access the entire archive as part of their subscription. Personal subscribers will also have access to all content when logged in. Non-subscribers who register have free access to all articles published before 2006 right back to volume 1 issue 1. Register here to access the free archive of all BMJ Journals.

Don't forget to sign up for content alerts so you keep up to date with all the articles as they are published.

Pathology jobs

Pathology jobs