Melioidosis: Laboratory Investigations and Association with Patient Outcomes

Melioidosis is an infection caused by the bacterium Burkholderia pseudomallei. The most common presentation is bacteremia occurring in 38–73% of all patients, and the mortality rate ranges from 9% to 42%. Although there is abundant data representing risk factors for infection and patient outcomes, there is limited information regarding laboratory investigations associated with bacteremia and mortality. We assessed a range of baseline and diagnostic investigations and their association with patient outcomes in a retrospective cohort study in Townsville, Australia. About 124 patients’ medical and laboratory records were reviewed between January 1, 1997 and December 31, 2020. Twenty-seven patients died and 87 patients were bacteremic. The presence of lymphopenia (< 1.5 × 109 cells/L) was the highest risk for bacteremia (relative risk [RR] 2.2; 95% CI: 1.3–3.7, P < 0.001). Factors associated with mortality included lymphopenia, (RR: 1.4; 95% CI: 1.2–1.6, P = 0.004); uremia (RR: 1.7; 95% CI: 1.1–2.5, P = 0.03); and an elevated international normalized ratio (RR: 1.5; 95% CI: 1.2–2.0, P = 0.006). Median incubation to positive blood culture result was 28 hours with 15/82 (18%) positive in ≤ 24 hours. For serological testing during admission only 53/121 (44%) were indirect hemagglutination assay positive, 67/120 (56%) enzyme immunoassay IgG positive, and 23/89 (26%) IgM positive. Simple baseline investigations at time of presentation may be used to stratify patients at high risk for both bacteremia and mortality. This information can be used as a decision aid for early intensive management.

265. Blood culture results pre- and post- antimicrobial administration in the Medicine Intensive Care Unit: a retrospective study in South Bronx

Background It is intuitive that obtaining blood cultures prior to administering antibiotics can increase the likelihood of a positive blood culture result. Surviving Sepsis Campaign Hour-1 bundle stipulates that obtaining a blood culture and administering antibiotics within 1 hour is a critical determinant of survival. However, the diagnostic sensitivity shortly after antibiotic administration remains unknown. In clinical practice, some health care providers delay antibiotic administration in order to first obtain a blood culture. Methods Adult patients (&gt; 18 years of age) admitted to the Medicine Intensive Care Unit in Lincoln Medical Center, located in South Bronx, New York City, from 09/2019 to 12/2019. Patients needed to have at least one blood culture obtained within 12 hours of admission and have received intravenous antibiotics during the admission to the Medicine Intensive Care Unit. Results Of 327 patients screened, 196 met enrolment criteria and 253 sets of blood cultures underwent analysis. Blood cultures grew bacteria in 21.8% of pre-antimicrobial group whereas 26.9% in post-antimicrobial group (p=0.37). 25.9% of patients received antibiotics within 1 hour before blood culture sampling, while 34.0% of patients received antibiotics &gt;1 hour prior to obtaining blood culture. Blood culture results positive for coagulase-negative staphylococci were more prevalent in the pre-antimicrobial group. Table 1. Patient Characteristics Table 2. Number of blood cultures obtained and blood culture result Table 3. Initial antimicrobial agent and 30-day mortality Conclusion In the sequence of blood culture and antibiotic administration, there is no 30-day survival difference in pre-antimicrobial group and post-antimicrobial group (p=0.15), as long as both received antibiotics within 12 hours of coming to the hospital. Coagulase-negative staphylococci were higher in the pre-antimicrobial group which may indicate that the health care provider hastily obtained the blood culture in a non-sterile manner. Antibiotic administration should not be delayed because of pending blood culture collection. In addition, given that more than 70% of patients were ultimately found to have negative blood cultures, it would be useful to develop practical tools to identify low-risk patients that can be treated without obtaining blood culture, as the blood culture would not be likely to provide diagnostic information. Figure 1: Hours Before and After IV Antibiotic Started Figure 2: Distribution of Blood Culture Before and After IV Antibiotics Disclosures All Authors: No reported disclosures

Blood Culture Results Reporting: How Fast Is Your Laboratory and Is Faster Better?

ABSTRACTBlood cultures are one of the most common and most important tests performed in clinical microbiology laboratories. Variables and technology that improve and speed the recovery of blood stream pathogens have been published in the Journal of Clinical Microbiology since its inception in 1975. Despite the importance of blood cultures, little research has focused on the turnaround time of blood culture reports. In this issue of the Journal of Clinical Microbiology, Y. P. Tabak et al. (J Clin Microbiol 56:e00500-18, 2018,https://doi.org/10.1128/JCM.00500-18) report the results of an investigation of Gram stain, organism identification, and susceptibility report turnaround times for 165,593 blood cultures from 13 laboratories. These data provide a starting point for clinical laboratories to establish targets for blood culture result reporting.

Use of Placental/Umbilical Blood Sampling for Neonatal Admission Blood Cultures: Benefits, Challenges, and Strategies for Implementation

Placental blood remains an underused resource for early neonatal care despite ample evidence that placental blood provides the same clinical decision making information without the need for painful, invasive blood sampling procedures. Potential benefits of placental/umbilical blood sampling (PUBS) for neonatal admission labs include decreases in pain reactivity, rates of anemia, need for blood transfusions, use of vasopressors, and rates of intraventricular hemorrhage. Here, we present a unique case study of a critically ill infant with contradictory blood culture results from PUBS and direct infant sampling. A negative admission direct sample blood culture result compared with a positive admission PUBS blood culture result suggests that infection may have been missed in the direct infant sample. Relevant placental embryology and circulation is also described, as well as the benefits of PUBS for neonatal admission labs (with focus on the blood culture), challenges associated with PUBS practice, and strategies for implementation of PUBS.

Classical Presentation of Acute Pyelonephritis in a Case of Brucellosis

Although Brucella species is known to affect almost all organs in humans, renal involvement presenting as acute pyelonephritis remains a rare entity in brucellosis. We report the case of a female patient who presented with symptoms of fever with chills, right loin pain and dysuria in the emergency room. Blood cultures drawn at the time of admission grew Brucella spp., but no organisms were isolated from urine culture although urinalysis data was indicative of urinary tract infection. Empiric therapy with piperacillin/tazobactam plus gentamicin relieved her symptoms. However, the treatment was switched to doxycycline plus rifampicin once the blood culture result was obtained.

New methods of microbiological identification using MALDI-TOF

Rapid diagnosis of pathogens is decisive to guarantee adequate therapy in infections: culture methods are precise and sensitive, but rather slow. New resources are available to enable faster diagnosis, and the most promising is MALDI-TOF technology: mass spectrometry applied to microbiological diagnosis. Times as fast as 10 to 15 minutes to etiological diagnosis are possible after a positive blood culture result. We hope to have this technology in our laboratory, ANVISA permitting and improving their very slow rate of doing things... MALDI-TOF is basically putting a sample of culture or an enriched suspension of the probable pathogen over a small spot with a matrix and vaporizing it with a laser pulse: the products are aspired into a chamber, ionized and reach detectors at variable times: the detectors show time of arrival and quantity of the product, and each pathogen has its characteristic spectrum analyzed by a software.