Controlled evaluation of modified radiometric blood culture medium supplemented with gelatin for detection of bacteremia and fungemia

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Abstract
Although the addition of 1.2% gelatin to broth blood culture media containing sodium polyanetholesulfonate has been shown to enhance detection of certain bacteria, including Neisseria meningitidis, N. gonorrhoeae, Peptostreptococcus anaerobius, and Gardnerella vaginalis, the effect of such supplementation on the detection of other microorganisms causing bacteremia and fungemia is not known. Therefore, we studied BACTEC 6B medium with and without gelatin in 6,833 paired comparisons to examine the effects of supplementation on both the yield and the speed of detection of sepsis. More aerobic and facultative bacteria grew in the 6B than in the 6B-gelatin medium (P < 0.001), especially staphylococci (P < 0.01), Escherichia coli (P < 0.01), other members of the family Enterobacteriaceae (P < 0.05), and Acinetobacter spp. (P < 0.05). When microorganisms grew in both bottles, they did so earlier in 6B than in 6B-gelatin (P < 0.001). We conclude that the 6B medium in its present formulation is superior to 6B medium supplemented with 1.2% gelatin.