title: Blood cultures.
abstract: Bacteremia and fungemia are encountered commonly and are associated with significant morbidity and mortality. Laboratory detection is therefore of paramount importance. Principles of successful blood culturing, clinically important technical issues, manual and automated detection systems, and interpretation of culture results are reviewed in this article.
authors.affiliation: Division of Allergy, Immunology and Infectious Diseases, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, New Brunswick.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Smith-Elekes
authors.forename: M P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Weinstein
mesh_terms: D001769:Blood / Q000382:microbiology*; D001800:Blood Specimen Collection / Q000592:standards; D003141:Communicable Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000382:microbiology; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D006801:Humans; D008828:Microbiological Techniques