TABLE 2.
False-positive rates for organisms that frequently represent contamination
| Organism(s) | Source
|
|||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1,585 blood culture-positive episodes from 3 U.S. hospitalsa
|
497,134 blood cultures from 640 U.S. institutionsb
|
|||
| % of all positive cultures (n = 1,585) | Contamination rate (%) | % of all positive cultures | Contamination rate (%) | |
| Coagulase-negative staphylococci | 44.3 | 82 | Not reported | 62-63 |
| Corynebacterium spp. (other than C. jeikieum) | 33.4 | 96 | Not reported | 68-78 |
| Bacillus spp. | 0.8 | 91.7 | Not reported | 68-70 (other than B. anthracis) |
| Propionibacterium acnes | 3.0 | 100 | Not reported | 84-85 |
| Viridans group streptococci | 4.5 | 49.3 | Not reported | 32-33 |
| Clostridiium perfringens | 0.8 | 76.9 | Not reported | Not reported |