Staphylococcus aureus in a single positive blood culture: causes and outcome.

Single positive culture was encountered in 61/235 patients (26%) with Staphylococcus aureus in blood culture over a 2-y period. It represented either true bacteremia (n = 52 cases; 85.2%) or contamination (n = 9; 14.8%). In comparison to cases with < or = 2 positive cultures, these patients did not have less severe disease or a lower incidence of complications.