Diagnosis of brucellosis by using blood cultures.

The performances of three blood culture systems, Hemoline performance diphasic medium (bioMérieux, Marcy l'Etoile, France), Bactec Plus Aerobic/F* (Becton Dickinson, Paramus, N.J.), and Vital Aer (bioMérieux), were compared for the diagnosis of 17 cases of brucellosis. By using a 5-day incubation protocol, positive results were 52.9, 82.4, and 11.8%, respectively. When the protocol was extended to 7 days, the results were 76.5, 94.1, and 47.1%, respectively. Bactec was the fastest system (P < 0.05).