Abstract
“BACTEC” and “BacT/ALERT” are widely used for automatic blood culture analysis in Japan. We summarized the bacteria isolated in five domestic hospitals using BACTEC and BacT/ALERT and examined the factors that affected the bacterial isolation rate. Among the bacteria isolated at a high rate, the number of times blood culture was performed correlated with the isolation rate and there were no differences in the isolation rate between BACTEC and BacT/ALERT. Among the bacteria isolated at a low rate, Streptococcus pneumoniae and Campylobacter spp. were isolated at a higher rate in the BACTEC group compared with the BacT/ALERT group. Candida spp. was isolated at a higher rate in the BacT/ALERT group than in the BACTEC group. The isolation rate of some kinds of bacteria was found to differ with the equipment. These results indicate that it is essential to consider the blood culture performance status in each hospital and the characteristics of the equipment used for blood culture.
