title: Duration of incubation of aerobic blood cultures--a comparison of recovery rates following blind subcultures after 0-2, 4 and 9 days.
abstract: 5,465 aerobic blood culture bottles were examined with 3 blind subcultures: 1. at the arrival of the cultures in the laboratory (0-2 days after their collection), 2. after 4 days' incubation, and 3. after 9 days' incubation. Growth was detected at subculture 1 in 77.0%, at subculture 2 in 20.6% and at subculture 3 in 2.4% of the positive cultures. Only 2 isolates (Staphylococcus aureus 1 bottle, Klebsiella species 1 bottle, 0.48% of total positives) were recovered in the final subculture only.
mesh_terms: D000332:Aerobiosis; D001769:Blood / Q000382:microbiology*; D006801:Humans; D008828:Microbiological Techniques; D013997:Time Factors