Darkening of haemoglobin in simulated, continuously agitated aerobic blood cultures: an early indicator of bacterial growth

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Abstract
The change of purple oxyhaemoglobin to the darker reduced haemoglobin and methaemoglobin was used as an initial visual growth indicator in continuously agitated, aerobic Colorbact® bottles after inoculation with a broad assortment of aerobic and facultatively anaerobic bacteria previously isolated from blood cultures. Growth of all the faster growing strains could be detected by darkening of the blood cultures within a 24 h period of agitation, after they had stood unshaken for eight h. The darkening was accompanied by consumption of O2 and acidification of the fluid media. The slower growing bacteria were detected by turbidity. This growth detection method is easy, quick, inexpensive and reliable, and is especially promising for application in clinical microbiological departments which daily receive blood cultures from peripheral hospitals.

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