ArticleBMC infectious diseases2021
Impact of delays to incubation and storage temperature on blood culture results: a multi-centre study.
Article in BMC infectious diseases, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 16 papers.
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Who cites it
16 citing papers in PubMed, 23 citations in OpenAlex.
- How Does the Time from Intraoperative Culture Harvest to Incubation Impact Culture Positivity in Orthopaedic Surgeries? A Case-Control Study.Antibiotics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Development, functional profiling, and probiotic evaluation of indigenous LAB from Nigerian fermented foods: Antimicrobial mechanisms, in vivo validation, and applications in food preservation and mycotoxin risk reduction.World journal of microbiology & biotechnology · 2026Article
- Application of the Blood Culture Train model based on procedural and behavioural interventions to improve the quality of blood culture collection.Infection prevention in practice · 2026Article
- A Systematic Review of Bacterial Sampling Collection for Veterinary Microbiology in Companion Animals.Veterinary sciences · 2026Review
- Blood culture diagnostics - a comparative and experimental study on the impact of delayed incubation.BMC microbiology · 2026Article
- Diagnostic Approaches to Invasive Candidiasis: Challenges and New Perspectives.Mycopathologia · 2025Review
- Diagnostic stewardship in sepsis: minding the gap from the microbiology lab to ward.Revista espanola de quimioterapia : publicacion oficial de la Sociedad Espanola de Quimioterapia · 2025Review
- Performance of direct-from-blood-culture disk diffusion antibiotic susceptibility testing and its impact on antibiotic adjustment in bloodstream infections at a Malaysian tertiary center.Microbiology spectrum · 2025Article
- Less haste, more speed: Does delayed blood culture transport time lead to adverse incubation times or yield?The Journal of infection · 2025Article
- An assessment of the downstream implications of blood culture collection and transit.European journal of clinical microbiology & infectious diseases : official publication of the European Society of Clinical Microbiology · 2023Article
- Diagnostics for Typhoid Fever: Current Perspectives and Future Outlooks for Product Development and Access.Open forum infectious diseases · 2023Article
- Predictive factors of infection in patients with chronic kidney disease using hemodialysis catheters.Jornal vascular brasileiro · 2023Article
- Improving the Treatment of Neonatal Sepsis in Resource-Limited Settings: Gaps and Recommendations.Research and reports in tropical medicine · 2023Review
- Bloodstream infections and antibiotic resistance at a regional hospital, Colombia, 2019-2021.Revista panamericana de salud publica = Pan American journal of public health · 2023Article
- Impact of delayed processing of positive blood cultures on organism detection: a prospective multi-centre study.BMC infectious diseases · 2022Article
- The drop in reported invasive pneumococcal disease among adults during the first COVID-19 wave in the Netherlands explained.International journal of infectious diseases : IJID : official publication of the International Society for Infectious Diseases · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
16 authors at 3 institutions in 5 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundBlood cultures are one of the most important tests performed by microbiology laboratories. Many hospitals, particularly in low and middle-income countries, lack either microbiology services or staff to provide 24 h services resulting in delays to blood culture incubation. There is insufficient guidance on how to transport/store blood cultures if delays before incubation are unavoidable, particularly if ambient temperatures are high. This study set out to address this knowledge gap.
methodsIn three South East Asian countries, four different blood culture systems (two manual and two automated) were used to test blood cultures spiked with five common bacterial pathogens. Prior to incubation the spiked blood culture bottles were stored at different temperatures (25 °C, in a cool-box at ambient temperature, or at 40 °C) for different lengths of time (0 h, 6 h, 12 h or 24 h). The impacts of these different storage conditions on positive blood culture yield and on time to positivity were examined.
resultsThere was no significant loss in yield when blood cultures were stored < 24 h at 25 °C, however, storage for 24 h at 40 °C decreased yields and longer storage times increased times to detection.
conclusionBlood cultures should be incubated with minimal delay to maximize pathogen recovery and timely result reporting, however, this study provides some reassurance that unavoidable delays can be managed to minimize negative impacts. If delays to incubation ≥ 12 h are unavoidable, transportation at a temperature not exceeding 25 °C, and blind sub-cultures prior to incubation should be considered.
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