[Blood stream infection and blood culture--"progress" and "blind" in blood culture testing].

We have investigated various types of blood culture bottles which are mainly used at present and posed problems present in the blood culture bottles. First, there are differences between resin and ecosorb in the ability to adsorb and inactivate antibiotics in the blood. Second, the delay in placing the bottle (into which blood was inoculated) to the automatic instrument (delay in the start of incubation) greatly affects the automatic detection by BACTEC system and shows false negatives. Third, when the same blood is incubated in plural bottles (aerobic and anaerobic bottles), the differences among the detected organisms in the number are comparatively high, i.e., about 40%. In addition, there are differences among the organisms in the number of days required for the detection of the organisms. In this case, the detected organisms are clearly different in many cases. The technology of blood culture has been progressed remarkably. However, the efficiency of utilization of automatic instruments for diagnosis of infection depends greatly on the ability of laboratory technicians.