title: Improving the yield of blood cultures for patients with early Lyme disease.
abstract: This study was designed to improve the recovery of Borrelia burgdorferi from blood. With the techniques used, B. burgdorferi could be recovered from the blood of approximately 25% of patients with early Lyme disease associated with erythema migrans. Serum was a better source of culture material than whole blood. The volume of blood cultured correlated directly with yield, particularly for patients with a single erythema migrans lesion.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, New York Medical College, Valhalla 10595, USA.
authors.forename: G P
authors.initials: GP
authors.lastname: Wormser
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Nowakowski
authors.forename: R B
authors.initials: RB
authors.lastname: Nadelman
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bittker
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Cooper
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Pavia
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D016470:Bacteremia / Q000175:diagnosis*; D015748:Borrelia burgdorferi Group / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D006801:Humans; D008193:Lyme Disease / Q000175:diagnosis*