Skip to main content
Journal of Clinical Microbiology logoLink to Journal of Clinical Microbiology
. 1988 Apr;26(4):747–749. doi: 10.1128/jcm.26.4.747-749.1988

Controlled evaluation of blood culture medium containing gelatin and V-factor-analog for detection of septicemia in children.

C W Stratton 1, M P Weinstein 1, S Mirrett 1, J Paisley 1, B A Lauer 1, L B Reller 1
PMCID: PMC266438  PMID: 3366869

Abstract

Both Neisseria meningitidis and Haemophilus influenzae are important isolates recovered in blood cultures from septicemic children. Sodium polyanetholsulfonate is present in most blood culture media and can inhibit the growth of certain bacteria, including N. meningitidis. The addition of gelatin to blood culture media neutralizes this inhibition. The growth of H. influenzae is enhanced by specific growth factors such as hemin and NAD. The addition of gelatin and V-factor-analog (a proprietary supplement for enhancing the growth of H. influenzae) might have a positive effect on the yield and on the speed of detection of septicemia in children. To evaluate this possibility, we did 4,565 paired comparisons of blood cultured in BACTEC 6B (aerobic) medium with and without the addition of both 1.2% gelatin and V-factor-analog. More aerobic and facultative bacteria grew in the 6B than in the 6B-gelatin-V-factor-analog medium (P less than 0.01). Only seven isolates of Neisseria spp. were recovered during this study period, with the 6B medium performing as well as the supplemented medium. When microorganisms grew in both bottles, they did so at the same time except for H. influenzae and Candida albicans. H. influenzae was recovered earlier from the 6B-gelatin-V-factor-analog bottle (P less than 0.01), with a mean time to detection of 8.5 h compared with 15.9 h for the 6B bottle. C. albicans was recovered earlier from the 6B bottle (P less than 0.02), with a mean time to detection of 34.9 h compared with 71.6 h for the 6B-gelatin-V-factor-analog bottle. We conclude that the 6B medium in its present formulation is superior to bB supplemented with gelatin and V-factor-analog.

Full text

PDF
749

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Belding M. E., Klebanoff S. J. Effect of sodium polyanetholesulfonate on antimicrobial systems in blood. Appl Microbiol. 1972 Nov;24(5):691–698. doi: 10.1128/am.24.5.691-698.1972. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Eng J. Effect of sodium polyanethol sulfonate in blood cultures. J Clin Microbiol. 1975 Feb;1(2):119–123. doi: 10.1128/jcm.1.2.119-123.1975. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Eng J., Holten E. Gelatin neutralization of the inhibitory effect of sodium polyanethol sulfonate on Neisseria meningitidis in blood culture media. J Clin Microbiol. 1977 Jul;6(1):1–3. doi: 10.1128/jcm.6.1.1-3.1977. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Graves M. H., Morello J. A., Kocka F. E. Sodium polyanethol sulfonate sensitivity of anaerobic cocci. Appl Microbiol. 1974 Jun;27(6):1131–1133. doi: 10.1128/am.27.6.1131-1133.1974. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Lambe D. W., Jr, McPhedran A. M., Mertz J. A., Stewart P. Streptobacillus moniliformis isolated from a case of Haverhill fever: biochemical characterization and inhibitory effect of sodium polyanethol sulfonate. Am J Clin Pathol. 1973 Dec;60(6):854–860. doi: 10.1093/ajcp/60.6.854. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Meadow W. L., Schwartz I. K. Time course of radiometric detection of positive blood cultures in childhood. Pediatr Infect Dis. 1986 May-Jun;5(3):333–336. doi: 10.1097/00006454-198605000-00012. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Pai C. H., Sorger S. Enhancement of recovery of Neisseria meningitidis by gelatin in blood culture media. J Clin Microbiol. 1981 Jul;14(1):20–23. doi: 10.1128/jcm.14.1.20-23.1981. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Reimer L. G., Reller L. B. Effect of sodium polyanetholesulfonate and gelatin on the recovery of Gardnerella vaginalis from blood culture media. J Clin Microbiol. 1985 May;21(5):686–688. doi: 10.1128/jcm.21.5.686-688.1985. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Rintala L., Pollock H. M. Effects of two blood culture anticoagulants on growth of Neisseria meningitidis. J Clin Microbiol. 1978 Apr;7(4):332–336. doi: 10.1128/jcm.7.4.332-336.1978. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Santosham M., Moxon E. R. Detection and quantitation of bacteremia in childhood. J Pediatr. 1977 Nov;91(5):719–721. doi: 10.1016/s0022-3476(77)81022-6. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Staneck J. L., Vincent S. Inhibition of Neisseria gonorrhoeae by sodium polyanetholesulfonate. J Clin Microbiol. 1981 Mar;13(3):463–467. doi: 10.1128/jcm.13.3.463-467.1981. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Taylor P. W. Bactericidal and bacteriolytic activity of serum against gram-negative bacteria. Microbiol Rev. 1983 Mar;47(1):46–83. doi: 10.1128/mr.47.1.46-83.1983. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Traub W. H., Lowrance B. L. Anticomplementary, anticoagulatory, and serum-protein precipitating activity of sodium polyanetholsulfonate. Appl Microbiol. 1970 Sep;20(3):465–468. doi: 10.1128/am.20.3.465-468.1970. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Weinstein M. P., Reller L. B., Mirrett S., Reimer L. G., Wang W. L., Stratton C. W. Controlled evaluation of modified radiometric blood culture medium supplemented with gelatin for detection of bacteremia and fungemia. J Clin Microbiol. 1987 Aug;25(8):1373–1375. doi: 10.1128/jcm.25.8.1373-1375.1987. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Weinstein M. P., Reller L. B., Murphy J. R., Lichtenstein K. A. The clinical significance of positive blood cultures: a comprehensive analysis of 500 episodes of bacteremia and fungemia in adults. I. Laboratory and epidemiologic observations. Rev Infect Dis. 1983 Jan-Feb;5(1):35–53. doi: 10.1093/clinids/5.1.35. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Wilkins T. D., West S. E. Medium-dependent inhibition of Peptostreptococcus anaerobius by sodium polyanetholsulfonate in blood culture media. J Clin Microbiol. 1976 Apr;3(4):393–396. doi: 10.1128/jcm.3.4.393-396.1976. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Journal of Clinical Microbiology are provided here courtesy of American Society for Microbiology (ASM)

RESOURCES