title: Short report: Failure of Burkholderia pseudomallei to grow in an automated blood culture system.
abstract: We compared the organisms isolated from 30,210 pairs of blood culture bottles by using BacT/Alert system and the conventional system. Overall, 2,575 (8.5%) specimens were culture positive for pathogenic organisms. The sensitivity for detection of pathogenic organisms with the BACT/Alert system (85.6%, 2,203 of 2,575) was significantly higher than that with the conventional method (74.1%, 1,908 of 2,575; P < 0.0001). However, Burkholderia pseudomallei was isolated less often with the BacT/ALERT system (73.5%, 328 of 446) than with the conventional system (90.3%, 403 of 446; P < 0.0001). This finding suggests that use of the conventional culture method in conjunction with the BacT/Alert system may improve the isolation rate for B. pseudomallei in melioidosis-endemic areas.
authors.forename: Nittaya
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Teerawattanasook
authors.forename: Direk
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Limmathurotsakul
authors.forename: Nicholas P J
authors.initials: NPJ
authors.lastname: Day
authors.forename: Vanaporn
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Wuthiekanun
mesh_terms: D001331:Automation; D016957:Burkholderia pseudomallei / Q000254:growth & development*; D003470:Culture Media
chemical_list: D003470:Culture Media