title: Comparison of the VersaTREK blood culture system against the Bactec9240 system in patients with suspected bloodstream infections.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  To evaluate the VersaTREK (TREK Diagnostic Systems, Cleveland, Ohio) blood culture system against the Bactec9240 (BD Microbiology, Cockeysville, MD), for the recovery of bloodstream pathogens.
  
  
  METHODS
  Venous blood from patients with suspected bacterial sepsis was evenly distributed into bottles of each system. Positive signals were recorded and bottles processed onto standard media for organism recovery. False positive signals were regarded if no organisms were seen on Gram stain and no growth was observed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  177 bottles were available for analysis; the Bactec9240 system yielded 43 positive, 134 negative results and no false positive signals. The VersaTREK system had 58 positive signals with 14 being false positives.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In our setting with high background burden of immuno-compromised patients, the VersaTREK system compared favourably with the Bactec9240 in recovering blood stream aerobic and facultative anaerobic pathogens from patients with suspected bacterial sepsis. A concern is the high false positivity rate. Due to its versatility to accommodate small and large workloads as well as using smaller volumes of blood, this system may establish itself as a useful alternative for the recovery of bloodstream pathogens.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Microbiology, University of Pretoria and Tshwane Academic Division of the National Health Laboratory Service (NHLS), Pretoria, South Africa. aw.dreyer@gmail.com
authors.forename: Andries W
authors.initials: AW
authors.lastname: Dreyer
authors.forename: Nazir A
authors.initials: NA
authors.lastname: Ismail
authors.forename: Deliwe
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Nkosi
authors.forename: Kathy
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Lindeque
authors.forename: Marliza
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Matthews
authors.forename: Danie G
authors.initials: DG
authors.lastname: van Zyl
authors.forename: Anwar A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Hoosen
mesh_terms: D016470:Bacteremia / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000382:microbiology*; D001419:Bacteria / Q000254:growth & development / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D001431:Bacteriological Techniques / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D001769:Blood / Q000382:microbiology*; D019411:Clinical Laboratory Techniques / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans