Table 2. Bacteria isolated by culture of blood and pleural fluid samples and by PCR of pleural fluid samples from children with empyema, Australia, 2007–2009*.
| Organism | No. (%) positive samples |
||
|---|---|---|---|
| Blood culture, n = 152 | Pleural fluid |
||
| Culture, n = 160 | PCR, n = 145 | ||
| Streptococcus pneumoniae | 19 (12.5) | 12 (7.5) | 74 (51) |
| S. pyogenes | 3 (2.0) | 14 (8.8) | NA |
| S. milleri | NA | 4 (2.5) | NA |
| MSSA | 1 (0.7) | 11 (6.8) | 6 (4.1) |
| MRSA | 1 (0.7) | 6 (3.8) | 7 (4.8) |
| Coagulase-negative staphylococci | 4 (2.6) | 2 (1.3) | NA |
| Haemophilus influenzae | 1 (0.7) | NA | 4 (2.8) |
| Mycobacterium tuberculosis | NA | 1 (0.6 | NA |
| Pseudomonas aeruginosa | NA | 1 (0.6) | NA |
| Mycoplasma pneumoniae | NA | NA | 1 (0.7) |
| Chlamydia pneumoniae | NA | NA | 1 (0.7) |
| Other† | 4 (2.6) | 4 (2.5) | NA |
*NA, not applicable; MSSA, methicillin-susceptible Staphylococcus aureus; MRSA, methicillin-resistant S.s aureus. †Blood cultures: 1 isolate each of Streptococcus sanguinis; Staphylococcus hominis (from a specimen in which S. aureus was also isolated); Neisseria meningitidis; and Actinomyces naeslundii. Pleural fluid: 1 isolate each of Streptococcus oralis; Staphylococcus cohni; Eikenella corrodens; and Bacteroides fragilis (the last 2 from the same specimen, from which S. milleri was also isolated). Both MRSA and MSSA were cultured from 1 pleural fluid specimen.