Skip to main content
PMC home page
Journal of Clinical Microbiology logoLink to Journal of Clinical Microbiology
. 1978 Sep;8(3):288–292. doi: 10.1128/jcm.8.3.288-292.1978

Evaluation of Twenty-Three Blood Culture Media

Jegdish P Babu *, Ronald F Schell *, Jack L Le Frock *
PMCID: PMC275233  PMID: 701464

Abstract

Several investigators have evaluated clinically a variety of commercially available blood culture media. No agreement has been reached as to which of these media is optimal for detection of bacteremia. The purpose of this study was to determine the rate of recovery of microorganisms from various blood culture media. A total of 23 blood culture media were inoculated with 7 to 15 microorganisms per bottle in the presence or absence of an erythrocyte-serum mixture. The results demonstrated that blood culture media differed in their ability to support the growth of microorganisms. At 4 days after inoculation, only 10 of the 23 blood culture media supported the growth of 91% (10 of the 11) or more of the test microorganisms. The recovery rate of microorganisms depended not only upon the type of medium but also upon the manufacturer of the type of blood culture medium. The addition of an erythrocyte-serum mixture to the blood culture media did not influence the difference in the recovery rate of microorganisms among media and the same type of medium prepared by different manufacturers. The majority (15 of the 23) of the blood culture media supplemented with the erythrocyte-serum mixture failed to support the growth of 91% or more of the test microorganisms at 4 days after inoculation. These results have demonstrated that blood culture media need to be improved. Better quality control measures should also be implemented to evaluate commercial blood culture media.

Full text

PDF
288

Selected References

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

  1. CONNER V., MALLERY O. T., Jr Blood culture; a clinical laboratory study of two methods. Am J Clin Pathol. 1951 Aug;21(8):785–788. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Coetzee E. F., Johnson R. S. An improved blood culture medium. Med Lab Technol. 1974 Oct;31(4):299–303. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Dalton H. P., Kammer R., Escobar M. R., Allison M. J. Comparison of two blood culture systems. Am J Clin Pathol. 1974 Jun;61(6):856–858. doi: 10.1093/ajcp/61.6.856. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Day T. K. Controlled trial of prophylactic antibiotics in minor wounds requiring suture. Lancet. 1975 Dec 13;2(7946):1174–1176. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(75)92659-8. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Finegold S. M., White M. L., Ziment I., Winn W. R. Rapid diagnosis of bacteremia. Appl Microbiol. 1969 Sep;18(3):458–463. doi: 10.1128/am.18.3.458-463.1969. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Gross P. A., Fryda R., Reilly K. Comparative evaluation of different types of blood culture media for isolation of aerobes. J Clin Microbiol. 1977 Oct;6(4):362–366. doi: 10.1128/jcm.6.4.362-366.1977. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Hall M., Warren E., Washington J. A., 2nd Comparison of two liquid blood culture media containing sodium polyanethole sulfonate: tryptic soy and Columbia. Appl Microbiol. 1974 Apr;27(4):699–702. doi: 10.1128/am.27.4.699-702.1974. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Le Frock J. L., Ellis C. A., Turchik J. B., Zawacki J. K., Weinstein L. Transient bacteremia associated with percutaneous liver biopsy. J Infect Dis. 1975 May;131 (Suppl):S104–S107. doi: 10.1093/infdis/131.supplement.s104. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Morello J. A., Ellner P. D. New medium for blood cultures. Appl Microbiol. 1969 Jan;17(1):68–70. doi: 10.1128/am.17.1.68-70.1969. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Painter B. G., Isenberg H. D. Clinical laboratory evaluation of the fifty-milliliter vacutainer blood culture tube. J Clin Microbiol. 1976 Aug;2(2):99–103. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Qadri S. M., Wende R. D. A single-bottle blood culture system: evaluation and comparison with two other systems. Can J Microbiol. 1977 Aug;23(8):1041–1044. doi: 10.1139/m77-155. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Roberts G. D., Horstmeier C., Hall M., Washington J. A., 2nd Recovery of yeast from vented blood culture bottles. J Clin Microbiol. 1975 Jul;2(1):18–20. doi: 10.1128/jcm.2.1.18-20.1975. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Rosner R. A quantitative evaluation of three blood culture systems. Am J Clin Pathol. 1972 Feb;57(2):220–227. doi: 10.1093/ajcp/57.2.220. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Rosner R. Comparison of a blood culture system containing liquoid and sucrose with systems containing either reagent alone. Appl Microbiol. 1970 Feb;19(2):281–282. doi: 10.1128/am.19.2.281-282.1970. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Rosner R. Effect of various anticoagulants and no anticoagulant on ability to isolate bacteria directly from parallel clinical blood specimens. Am J Clin Pathol. 1968 Feb;49(2):216–219. doi: 10.1093/ajcp/49.2.216. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Rosner R. Evaluation of four blood culture systems using parallel culture methods. Appl Microbiol. 1974 Aug;28(2):245–247. doi: 10.1128/am.28.2.245-247.1974. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Sullivan N. M., Sutter V. L., Carter W. T., Attebery H. R., Finegold S. M. Bacteremia after genitourinary tract manipulation: bacteriological aspects and evaluation of various blood culture systems. Appl Microbiol. 1972 Jun;23(6):1101–1106. doi: 10.1128/am.23.6.1101-1106.1972. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Washington J. A., 2nd Blood cultures: principles and techniques. Mayo Clin Proc. 1975 Feb;50(2):91–98. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Washington J. A., 2nd Comparison of two commercially available media for detection of bacteremia. Appl Microbiol. 1971 Oct;22(4):604–607. doi: 10.1128/am.22.4.604-607.1971. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Washington J. A., 2nd Evaluation of two commercially available media for detection of bacteremia. Appl Microbiol. 1972 May;23(5):956–959. doi: 10.1128/am.23.5.956-959.1972. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. Washington J. A., 2nd, Hall M. M., Warren E. Evaluation of blood culture media supplemented with sucrose or with cysteine. J Clin Microbiol. 1975 Jan;1(1):79–81. doi: 10.1128/jcm.1.1.79-81.1975. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

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

RESOURCES