title: Time to positivity of blood cultures in neonates.
abstract: Blood culture reports in neonatal sepsis aid physician in either optimizing therapy or discontinuing antibiotics. We determined the time taken for neonatal blood cultures to become positive using the aerobic BacT/Alert system. Of 944 blood cultures from 816 neonates, 139 (14.7%) were positive. Growth of all definitive bacteria, 95% of possible bacteria and 84% of fungi were detected within 48 hours of incubation.
authors.affiliation: From the *Department of Paediatrics and †Department of Microbiology, Kasturba Medical College, Manipal University, Manipal, Udupi, Karnataka, India.
authors.forename: Sivarama Raju
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Vamsi
authors.forename: Ramesh Y
authors.initials: RY
authors.lastname: Bhat
authors.forename: Leslie E
authors.initials: LE
authors.lastname: Lewis
authors.forename: Kalwaje E
authors.initials: KE
authors.lastname: Vandana
mesh_terms: D016470:Bacteremia / Q000097:blood* / Q000175:diagnosis*; D001419:Bacteria / Q000302:isolation & purification; D001431:Bacteriological Techniques; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn / Q000097:blood*; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011446:Prospective Studies; D013997:Time Factors