Diagnostic Yield of Blood Clot Culture in the Accurate Diagnosis of Enteric Fever and Human Brucellosis
Mantur, B.G.; Bidari, L.H.; Akki, A.S.; Mulimani, M.S.; Tikare, N.V.
Clinical Laboratory 53(1-2): 57-61
2007
ISSN/ISBN: 1433-6510 PMID: 17323826 Document Number: 8703
Culture of blood is the most frequent, accurate means of diagnosing bacteremia in enteric fever and brucellosis. However, conventional blood culturing is slow in isolating bacteria causing these diseases. In this work, we evaluated the performance of blood clot culture and conventional whole blood cultures in the accurate diagnosis of enteric fever (253 cases) and human brucellosis (71cases). The blood clot culture was found to be much more sensitive for both Salmonella (more by 34.4%, P Brucella (more by 22.6%, P Salmonella , 3.1 versus 8.2 days for Brucella melitensis , respectively). The rapid confirmation of the etiological agent would facilitate an early institution of appropriate antimicrobial therapy, thereby reducing clinical morbidity especially in an endemic population. It is worthwile practicing blood clot culture for the accurate diagnosis of enteric fever and brucellosis in developing countries where diagnostic facilities by advanced technologies like automated culture systems and PCR are not available.
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