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A Comparison of Two Versus One Blood Culture in the Diagnosis and Treatment of Coagulase-Negative Staphylococcus in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit

Journal of Perinatology volume 22, pages 547–549 (2002)Cite this article

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: This study compares two versus one blood culture in the diagnosis and treatment of coagulase-negative staphylococcus (CONS) in babies with suspected sepsis.

STUDY DESIGN: The study was performed at British Columbia's Children's Hospital Neonatal Intensive Care Unit between March 1999 to March 2000. One hundred pairs of cultures were drawn from two percutaneous sites from babies more than 48 hours old at the time of a sepsis screen. CONS cultured from both sites was regarded as evidence of infection. Positive culture from only one of the two sites was regarded as contaminant. The difference in rates of diagnosed CONS infection and reduction in antibiotic usage when using two versus one blood culture was calculated.

RESULTS: In 5% of babies, cultures from a second site did not substantiate the diagnosis of CONS when compared to the result from a single culture. The resultant reduction in antibiotic use was 8.2%.

CONCLUSIONS: Two blood cultures reduce the number of children diagnosed with CONS infection and reduce antibiotic usage.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pediatrics, Children's and Women's Health Care Center of British Columbia, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada

    Simon Struthers MRCP, Helen Underhill MRCP, Susan Albersheim FRCPC, David Greenberg MD & Simon Dobson FRCPC

  2. Department of Paediatrics, Royal Hampshire County Hospital, Winchester, UK

    Simon Struthers MRCP

  3. Department of Paediatrics, Mayday Hospital, Croydon, UK

    Helen Underhill MRCP

  4. Department of Pediatrics, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Beersheba, Israel

    David Greenberg MD

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  1. Simon Struthers MRCP
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  2. Helen Underhill MRCP
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  3. Susan Albersheim FRCPC
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  4. David Greenberg MD
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  5. Simon Dobson FRCPC
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Struthers, S., Underhill, H., Albersheim, S. et al. A Comparison of Two Versus One Blood Culture in the Diagnosis and Treatment of Coagulase-Negative Staphylococcus in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. J Perinatol 22, 547–549 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.jp.7210792

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