title: Controlled evaluation of BacT/Alert standard aerobic and FAN aerobic blood culture bottles for detection of bacteremia and fungemia.
abstract: A new medium, FAN, designed to enhance the recovery of microorganisms, has been developed for the BacT/Alert blood culture system (Organon Teknika Corp., Durham, N.C.). We compared the yield and speed of detection of microorganisms in 6,847 adequately filled paired aerobic standard and FAN bottles at four university hospitals. Of 499 clinically significant microorganisms isolated from one or both bottles, significantly more Staphylococcus aureus isolates (P < 0.001), coagulase-negative staphylococci (P < 0.001), yeasts (P < 0.01), and all microorganisms combined (P < 0.001) were recovered from the FAN bottles. Overall, the speeds of detection of positive cultures did not differ between the two medium formulations; mean times to detection in the standard and FAN bottles were 16.1 and 16.0 h, respectively. When a subset of patients on antimicrobial therapy was evaluated, significantly enhanced yield from the FAN bottle was evident for staphylococci. Overall, the FAN bottle outperformed the standard aerobic BacT/Alert bottle.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey--Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, New Brunswick 08901, USA.
authors.forename: M P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Weinstein
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mirrett
authors.forename: L G
authors.initials: LG
authors.lastname: Reimer
authors.forename: M L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Wilson
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Smith-Elekes
authors.forename: C R
authors.initials: CR
authors.lastname: Chuard
authors.forename: K L
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: Joho
authors.forename: L B
authors.initials: LB
authors.lastname: Reller
mesh_terms: D000332:Aerobiosis; D016470:Bacteremia / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000382:microbiology; D001419:Bacteria / Q000302:isolation & purification; D001431:Bacteriological Techniques; D003470:Culture Media; D003951:Diagnostic Errors; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D016469:Fungemia / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000382:microbiology; D005658:Fungi / Q000302:isolation & purification; D006801:Humans; D009172:Mycology / Q000379:methods*; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D003470:Culture Media