Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Nov 24;11(12):1694.
doi: 10.3390/antibiotics11121694.

Changes in Use of Blood Cultures in a COVID-19-Dedicated Tertiary Hospital

Alina-Ioana Andrei  1   2 , Gabriel-Adrian Popescu  1   2 , Mona Argentina Popoiu  2 , Alexandru Mihai  2 , Daniela Tălăpan  1   2
Affiliations

Changes in Use of Blood Cultures in a COVID-19-Dedicated Tertiary Hospital

Alina-Ioana Andrei et al. Antibiotics (Basel). .

Abstract

Blood cultures should be collected within an hour in the setting of sepsis/septic shock. The contamination rate should be below 3%. Worldwide reports have described an increase in blood contamination rates during the COVID-19 pandemic. We performed a retrospective analysis of the blood cultures collected during a 10-month period (March−December 2020) at NIID “Prof. Dr. Matei Balș”. The results were compared with data from the pre-pandemic period (March−December 2016) and with the existing data in the literature. During the pandemic, there was a significant decrease in the number of blood cultures collected (1274 blood cultures in 2020 vs. 5399 in 2016). The contamination rate was higher in 2020 (11.7%) compared to 2016 (8.2%), p < 0.001. The rate of infectious episodes in which the etiological agent was identified was constant: 11% in 2020 versus 11.9% in 2016, p = 0.479, but there were fewer invasive bacterial/fungal infections: 0.95/1000 patient days in 2020 vs. 2.39/1000 patient days in 2016, p < 0.001. We observed a change in the species distribution. The Gram-negative isolate’s proportion increased from 50.6% to 63.1% and the gram-positive isolate’s proportion decreased from 31.8% to 19%. Collection of a low number of blood cultures and a high contamination rate was identified in our clinic. In order to improve the usefulness of blood cultures as a diagnostic method, at least two sets should be collected in aseptic conditions.

Keywords: COVID-19; blood culture; contamination rate.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Distribution of patients into groups related to the blood culture results: (A) (2016) and (B) (2020).
Figure 1
Figure 1
Distribution of patients into groups related to the blood culture results: (A) (2016) and (B) (2020).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Evans L., Rhodes A., Alhazzani W., Antonelli M., Coopersmith C.M., French C., Machado F.R., Mcintyre L., Ostermann M., Prescott H.C., et al. Surviving Sepsis Campaign: International Guidelines for Management of Sepsis and Septic Shock 2021. Intensive Care Med. 2021;47:1181–1247. doi: 10.1007/s00134-021-06506-y. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Singer M., Deutschman C.S., Seymour C., Shankar-Hari M., Annane D., Bauer M., Bellomo R., Bernard G.R., Chiche J.D., Coopersmith C.M., et al. The Third International Consensus Definitions for Sepsis and Septic Shock (Sepsis-3) JAMA. 2016;315:801–810. doi: 10.1001/jama.2016.0287. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Liu C., Bayer A., Cosgrove S.E., Daum R.S., Fridkin S.K., Gorwitz R.J., Kaplan S.L., Karchmer A.W., Levine D.P., Murray B.E., et al. Clinical Practice Guidelines by the Infectious Diseases Society of America for the Treatment of Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus Infections in Adults and Children. Clin. Infect. Dis. 2011;52:285–292. doi: 10.1093/cid/cir034. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Shapiro N.I., Wolfe R.E., Wright S.B., Moore R., Bates D.W. Who Needs a Blood Culture? A Prospectively Derived and Validated Prediction Rule. J. Emerg. Med. 2008;35:255–264. doi: 10.1016/j.jemermed.2008.04.001. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Otani T., Ichiba T., Seo K., Naito H. Blood Cultures Should Be Collected for Acute Cholangitis Regardless of Severity. J. Infect. Chemother. 2022;28:181–186. doi: 10.1016/j.jiac.2021.10.004. - DOI - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources