title: How to Optimize the Use of Blood Cultures for the Diagnosis of Bloodstream Infections? A State-of-the Art.
abstract: Bloodstream infection (BSI) is a major cause of death in developed countries and the detection of microorganisms is essential in managing patients. Despite major progress has been made to improve identification of microorganisms, blood culture (BC) remains the gold standard and the first line tool for detecting BSIs. Consensus guidelines are available to ensure optimal BSI procedures, but BC practices often deviate from the recommendations. This review provides an update on clinical and technical issues related to blood collection and to BC performance, with a special focus on the blood sample strategy to optimize the sensitivity and specificity of BCs.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Bactériologie, CHU Montpellier Montpellier, France.
authors.forename: Brigitte
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Lamy
authors.affiliation: Service de Maladies Infectieuses, CHU Caen Caen, France.
authors.forename: Sylvie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Dargère
authors.affiliation: Unit for Mycology, Department of Microbiology & Infection Control, Statens Serum Institut Copenhagen, Denmark.
authors.forename: Maiken C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Arendrup
authors.affiliation: Unité de Biostatistiques et de Recherche Clinique, CHU Caen Caen, France.
authors.forename: Jean-Jacques
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Parienti
authors.affiliation: Service de Maladies Infectieuses, CHU Rennes Rennes, France.
authors.forename: Pierre
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Tattevin
keywords: blood culture; bloodstream infection; contamination; multi-sampling strategy; sensitivity; single sampling strategy; specificity