BACKGROUND For the diagnosis of prosthetic joint infection (PJI) automated BACTEC™ blood culture bottle methods have comparable sensitivity, specificity and a shorter time to positivity than traditional cooked meat enrichment broth methods. We evaluate the culture incubation period required to maximise sensitivity and specificity of microbiological diagnosis, and the ability of BACTEC™ to detec...

In a meta-analysis of 10 studies, the BACTEC 960/MGIT and BACTEC 460 systems showed a sensitivity and specificity in detecting mycobacteria (1,381 strains from 14,745 clinical specimens) of 81.5 and 99.6% and 85.8 and 99.9%, respectively. Combined with solid media, the sensitivity of the two systems increased to 87.7 and 89.7%, respectively.

Pseudobacteremias in blood cultures performed on the BACTEC radiometric blood culture system have been reported. We report three cases of cross contamination with Mycobacterium avium that occurred when mycobacteria were cultured with the BACTEC 460 TB system. Malfunction of the needle sterilization heating block was demonstrated.

At Yale-New Haven Hospital, 46 specimens submitted for mycobacterial culture during an 8-week period in 1989 were positive for Mycobacterium gordonae, a nontuberculous acid-fast bacterium (AFB) of low pathogenicity. The specimens were submitted from 34 patients who came from various inpatient and outpatient services. Four patients were begun on antimycobacterial therapy on the basis of an AFB i...

BACKGROUND Bacteriologic culture remains one of the most important methods to diagnose bovine tuberculosis despite the lengthy incubation time, significant decontamination and media expense, and high biocontainment requirements. Media selection is an important determination of culture sensitivity, and the planned discontinuation of the BACTEC 460 TB culture system has challenged veterinary diag...

On examination of Bactec blood cultures for pneumococcal antigen by countercurrent immunoelectrophoresis the consistent presence of a non-specific protein band caused problems with the interpretation of results, even in laboratories experienced in performing countercurrent immunoelectrophoresis. When the Bactec blood culture system is used, countercurrent immunoelectrophoresis should not be rel...

Equal volumes of blood from 4,112 blood cultures were inoculated into one Bactec Peds Plus bottle and one Roche Septi-Chek bottle. There were no significant differences in the recoveries of bloodstream pathogens. Initial detection occurred earlier with Bactec Peds Plus, while growth on solid media occurred earlier with Roche Septi-Chek.

Serpentine cord formation in BACTEC 12B medium was evaluated as a rapid method for the presumptive identification of M. tuberculosis complex. Kinyoun acid-fast stained smears were prepared from 666 positive BACTEC 12B bottles and examined for the presence or absence of serpentine cording. Cord formation had a sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value of ...

AIMS To compare the recovery of mycobacteria from clinical samples using the MB/BacT rapid culture system with that obtained using egg medium or the Bactec radiometric method. METHODS The three methods were compared using 681 clinical samples (462 respiratory and 219 non-respiratory samples) and eight external quality control strains. Culture media were incubated at 35-37 degrees C for six we...

In an initial evaluation, we found the Oxoid Signal blood culture system inferior to the BACTEC radiometric system for detection of some microorganisms causing septicemia (M. P. Weinstein, S. Mirrett, and L. B. Reller, J. Clin. Microbiol. 26:962-964, 1988). To determine whether modified processing of the Oxoid Signal blood culture system could improve its yield and speed of detecting positive c...