Detection of bacteraemia in children seen in the outpatient department: a comparison of conventional blood culture methods and a Castaneda blood culture.

Modified Castaneda blood culture bottles were used to diagnose bacteraemia in children attending the out patient clinic. Bacterial growth was detected in twelve out of 147 patients (8%), in both the routine and Castaneda blood culture bottles. Streptococcus pneumoniae was recovered in nine patients (6%), and H. influenzae in three patients (2%). The average length of time required to identify the organisms utilizing the routine blood culture bottles was 2 days (range 1 to 4 days), while the average time utilizing Castaneda bottles was 3.5 days (range 1 to 6 days). Castaneda blood bottles were found in this work to be effective in the detection of bacteraemia in children, and because of their simplicity they may serve for the detection of bacteraemia by physicians in general practice.