title: The utility of anaerobic blood culture in detecting facultative anaerobic bacteremia in children.
abstract: Routine anaerobic blood culture is not recommended in children because obligate anaerobic bacteremia is rare in the pediatric population. However, a number of facultative anaerobic bacteria can cause community and hospital acquired infections in children and the utility of anaerobic blood culture for detection of these organisms is still unclear. We conducted a retrospective analysis of all blood culture samples (n = 24,356) at a children's hospital in Japan from October 2009 to June 2012. Among the samples that had paired aerobic and anaerobic blood cultures, 717 samples were considered clinically significant with 418 (58%) organisms detected from both aerobic and anaerobic cultures, 167 (23%) detected only from aerobic culture and 132 (18%) detected only from anaerobic culture. While most facultative anaerobes were detectable by aerobic culture, over 25% of Enterobacteriaceae and 15% of Staphylococcus sp. were detected from anaerobic cultures bottles only, suggesting its potential role in selected settings.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Subspecialties, Division of Infectious Diseases, National Center for Child Health and Development, Tokyo, Japan. shoji-k@ncchd.go.jp
authors.forename: Kensuke
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Shoji
authors.forename: Hisako
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Komuro
authors.forename: Yasushi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Watanabe
authors.forename: Isao
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Miyairi
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000332:Aerobiosis; D000693:Anaerobiosis; D016470:Bacteremia / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000382:microbiology*; D015373:Bacterial Typing Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003470:Culture Media; D005260:Female; D006090:Gram-Negative Bacteria / Q000145:classification / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D006094:Gram-Positive Bacteria / Q000145:classification / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D011933:Reagent Kits, Diagnostic; D012189:Retrospective Studies
chemical_list: D003470:Culture Media; D011933:Reagent Kits, Diagnostic
keywords: Anaerobic bacteria; Bacteremia; Blood culture; Children