The Turkish Journal of Pediatrics 2004; 46: 251-255 Original Pediatric blood culture: time to positivity

The aim of this study was to determine how long it takes blood culture to become positive using a blood culture system that can be monitored continuously in pediatric patients. Data were collected prospectively on 1,000 positive blood culture results from a tertiary pediatric university hospital from April 2000 to May 2002. The laboratory used the BACTEC 9120 fluorescent blood culture system. Patient’s age ranged from less than a day to 20 years of age (mean 3 years). Five hundred and four cultures (50.4%) out of 1,000 yielded coagulase negative staphylococcus (CNS), 81 (8.1%) S. aureus, 53 (5.3%). Pseudomonas and 50 (5.0%) Klebsiella species. Of the 504 coagulase negative staphylococcal blood culture isolates, 314 (62.3 % of CNS) were regarded as skin contaminants. Of the 1,000 cultures, 9.6 % were reported as positive in the first day, 27.8 % in the second day, 54.7 % in the third day, 77.0 % in the fourth and 89.4 % in the fifth day. There was no association between previous antibiotic usage and the period required for isolate recovery