Assessment of the BacT/Alert blood culture system: rapid bacteremia diagnosis with loading throughout the 24 h

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To determine blood culture (BC) diagnostic speed when combining an automated BC system with rapid loading of inoculated bottles throughout the 24 h. METHODS: A total of 111 positive BCs representing bacteremia were investigated in retrospect. All bottles were loaded into the BacT/Alert BC system (Organon Teknika) as soon as possible after sampling and time from specimen collection to Gram stain result was recorded. RESULTS: The mean time from specimen collection to loading was 3.5 h (median 2.1 h). We found that 74% of all positive BCs collected during daytime (08.00-16.00) were reported (as Gram stain) to the clinician before 17.00 the next day. For specimens collected between 16.00 and midnight the corresponding proportion was 67%. BCs drawn between midnight and 08.00 were reported before 17.00 the same day in 24% of the cases. CONCLUSIONS: Rapid loading of an automated BC system throughout the 24 h results in fast diagnosis of bacteremia. The diagnostic speed in this study represents a fair estimation of the maximal diagnostic speed accomplishable in a clinical situation with the BacT/Alert system in conjunction with normal daytime laboratory working hours.