BACKGROUND Blood culture surveillance will be used for assessing the public health effectiveness of pneumococcal conjugate vaccines in Africa. Between 2003 and 2006 we assessed blood culture outcome and performance in adult patients in the central public hospital in Blantyre, Malawi, before and after the introduction of a dedicated nurse led blood culture team. METHODS A prospective observati...

Several investigators have evaluated clinically a variety of commercially available blood culture media. No agreement has been reached as to which of these media is optimal for detection of bacteremia. The purpose of this study was to determine the rate of recovery of microorganisms from various blood culture media. A total of 23 blood culture media were inoculated with 7 to 15 microorganisms p...

Blood culture is one of the most important diagnostic tests in medicine, considering significant morbidity and mortality associated with bloodstream infection (BSI). However, it an often misused misinterpreted test everyday paediatric practice. In this article, we explore evidence related to blood cultures, aim providing clear clinically-relevant recommendations for its judicious use.