Effect of volume of blood cultured on detection of Streptococcus viridans bacteraemia.

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Abstract
Patients (58) undergoing dental extraction each had 45 ml blood collected. This was divided into 30 ml and 15 ml blood samples for culture. Thie 30 ml sample was inoculated into 120 ml nutrient broth with 0.05% liquid and the 15 ml sample into 60 ml of identical broth so that the final dilution of blood in broth was always 1/5. Bacteremia due viridans streptococci was found in 27 and 15 patients by culturing the 30 ml and 15 ml blood samples, respectively. Only 1 further case of streptococcal bacteremia was detected by culture of the total volume of blood collected (45 ml) rather than culture of the 30 ml blood sample alone. Evidently, the culture of 30 ml blood results in the detection of up to 80% more blood cultures yielding virians streptococci than the culture of only 15 ml blood. Collection of > 30 ml blood for each culture is unlikely to prove worthwhile. It is suggested that 30 ml rather than 15 ml blood is probably the optimal volume of blood for each of viridans streptococci when patients with suspected infective endocarditis are investigated.

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