Biomaterial Database

Comparison of the BacT/Alert and Isolator blood culture systems for recovery of fungi. 1995

R Lyon, and G Woods

Department of Pathology, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston 77555-0743, USA.

The recovery of fungi by the BacT/Alert (Organon Teknika Corporation, Durham, NC) and Isolator (Wampole Laboratories, Cranbury, NJ) blood culture systems was compared by retrospective review of 2,174 matched cultures from 715 patients collected from April 1, 1993 to February 28, 1994. One hundred five isolates were recovered from 44 patients by one or both culture systems. All patients were fungemic with one organism. In all cases of fungemia, collection times for both culture systems were within 6 hours of each other. Of 22 isolates of Candida spp, the Isolator recovered all 22 isolates whereas the BacT/Alert recovered 15 (68.2%) (P < .05). The Isolator detected more isolates of Cryptococcus neoformans (10 of 11) than did the BacT/Alert (7 of 11). All 64 isolates of Histoplasma capsulatum (P < .0001) and 6 isolates of Malassezia furfur (P < .05) were recovered by the Isolator system only. For 20 isolates recovered by both systems for which time to recovery could be determined, the mean time to detection of growth was 2.9 days (range 0-9 days) for the Isolator and 2.1 days (range 0-5 days) for the BacT/Alert. In conclusion, the Isolator blood culture system is superior to BacT/Alert for the detection of fungemia, including fungemias caused by Candida spp, H capsulatum, and M furfur.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D001769	Blood	The body fluid that circulates in the vascular system (BLOOD VESSELS). Whole blood includes PLASMA and BLOOD CELLS.
D005658	Fungi	A kingdom of eukaryotic, heterotrophic organisms that live parasitically as saprobes, including MUSHROOMS; YEASTS; smuts, molds, etc. They reproduce either sexually or asexually, and have life cycles that range from simple to complex. Filamentous fungi, commonly known as molds, refer to those that grow as multicellular colonies.	Fungi, Filamentous,Molds,Filamentous Fungi,Filamentous Fungus,Fungus,Fungus, Filamentous,Mold
D012189	Retrospective Studies	Studies used to test etiologic hypotheses in which inferences about an exposure to putative causal factors are derived from data relating to characteristics of persons under study or to events or experiences in their past. The essential feature is that some of the persons under study have the disease or outcome of interest and their characteristics are compared with those of unaffected persons.	Retrospective Study,Studies, Retrospective,Study, Retrospective
D016533	Mycological Typing Techniques	Procedures for identifying types and strains of fungi.	Biotyping, Mycological,Fungal Typing Techniques,Typing, Fungal,Fungal Typing Technics,Mycological Biotyping,Mycological Typing Technic,Mycological Typing Technics,Mycological Typing Technique,Technic, Mycological Typing,Technics, Mycological Typing,Technique, Mycological Typing,Techniques, Mycological Typing,Typing Technic, Mycological,Typing Technics, Mycological,Typing Technique, Mycological,Typing Techniques, Mycological,Fungal Typing,Fungal Typing Technic,Fungal Typing Technique,Technic, Fungal Typing,Technics, Fungal Typing,Technique, Fungal Typing,Techniques, Fungal Typing,Typing Technic, Fungal,Typing Technics, Fungal,Typing Technique, Fungal,Typing Techniques, Fungal