Overview schematic of current bloodstream infection diagnostic workflow.
First, a 5 – 10 mL patient blood sample is cultured in 25 mL of nutrient
rich media to determine if a pathogen is present13(1). Next, either culture-based or
molecular methods are used to identify the pathogen(s) causing the infection
(2). Above, we show a rapid (~2 h), molecular testing system for
pathogen identification, the BioFire® FilmArray® Blood Culture
Identification Panel (BCID). Reprinted under permission of the Creative Commons
Attribution License93. Lastly,
the organism’s susceptibility to antibiotics is determined (3). Here, we
highlight the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) plate, which is a widely
employed culture-based methodology.