BLOOD CULTURE CONTAMINATION : ROLE OF REPEAT CULTURES IN DIFFERENTIATING SIGNIFICANT VERSUS PSEUDO BACTEREMIA

Presence of microbes in blood i.e. bacteremia carries high risk of morbidity and mortality. Blood cultures form a critical part of evaluation of patients with suspected sepsis. The present study was undertaken to study the effect of duration of incubation for obtaining positive cultures. Atotal of 220 samples from 107 pediatric patients presenting with suspected bacteraemia were processed aerobically. Cultures were positive in 24.3% of the samples. But, following repeat cultures, only 18.7% were identied as true or persistent bacteremias. Blood cultures positive for isolates having doubtful pathogenicity have to be conrmed by repeat cultures or isolation from other sets to conrm the true bacteremias.