Conditions Affecting Sensitivity of Techniques for Detection of Bacteremia

¹ Albert Einstein Medical Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Extraction of teeth causes bacteremias which may be difficult to detect by the usual blood culture techniques because the number of bacteria in the blood stream is small. By varying conditions of blood cultures in 124 cases, the following results were obtained:

1. Sensitivity of blood-culture techniques for the detection of bacteremia was increased by adding an inhibitor, sodium polyanetholsulfonate, to neutralize the natural antibacterial activity of the blood.

2. The use of more than one culture medium increased the sensitivity of the blood-culture techniques.

3. The use of an anaerobic along with an aerobic medium made possible the detection of a greater variety of bacteria in the blood.

4. The use of a greater volume of blood for cultures produced an increase in the detection of bacteremia.

5. For a given volume of blood, the sensitivity was the same whether the entire sample was cultured in a single flask or divided into two or more aliquots for separate culturing, when the bacterial showers were heavy. When the bacteremia was sparse, two or more aliquots may have been better.

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				G J Roberts, E C Jaffray, D A Spratt, A Petrie, C Greville, M Wilson, and V S Lucas Duration, prevalence and intensity of bacteraemia after dental extractions in children Heart, September 1, 2006; 92(9): 1274 - 1277. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]