Comparison of BACTEC™ blood culture media for the detection of fungemia

The aim of the present study was to investigate whether addition of the BACTEC™ Mycosis bottle to the standard BACTEC™ aerobic and anaerobic bottles contributed to a higher detection rate and a faster time to detection (TTD) of fungi. This was a retrospective cohort study of all patients with a positive blood culture with Candida species delivered to the Department of Clinical Microbiology, Herlev and Gentofte Hospital, Denmark in the 8-year period 2006 through 2014. The patients had at least one BACTEC™ aerobic and one Mycosis bottle sampled at the same time and at least one of the bottles yielded growth of fungi. Among 184 patients included, 173 were examined using BACTEC™ aerobic, anaerobic and Mycosis bottles. The anaerobic vial generally had the lowest detection rate and the longest TTD. The detection rate of BACTEC™ aerobic plus anaerobic with the BACTEC™ Mycosis bottle was significantly higher than the detection rate of BACTEC™ aerobic plus anaerobic without BACTEC™ Mycosis bottle for all species after 1-5 days, and specially for Candida glabrata at 2, 3, 4 and 5 days. TTD for C. glabrata was significantly shorter for BACTEC™ Mycosis than TTD for BACTEC™ aerobic or anaerobic bottles after ½ to 4 days. When combining "first or only" detection, the BACTEC™ Mycosis bottle had a significantly higher detection as compared to the aerobic bottle. Addition of the BACTEC™ Mycosis bottle to the standard BACTEC™ aerobic and anaerobic bottles significantly contributed to a higher detection rate and a faster TTD of fungemia.

Report from the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases

With its cool climate, Finland has a lower prevalence of fungal infections than many other European countries that have hosted the annual congress of the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases. However, changing patterns of infection and drug resistance, and their impact on treatment decisions, are as important to Nordic infectious disease specialists as to their colleagues in warmer countries. Similarly, developments in diagnostic techniques that enable fungal invasion to be identified before there is clinical evidence of infection will be a major step forward for physicians wherever they practise. It should therefore come as no surprise that this year's European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases was as well attended as previous meetings, with over 8000 participants arriving from all parts of Europe.