Bacterial blood cultures are often obtained after therapy has begun. One of the most frequently prescribed antimicrobial agents is vancomycin. Blood culture bottles with antimicrobial removal systems are recommended for patients who develop fever while on antibiotics. This study compared the effectiveness of the Becton Dickinson (Sparks, MD) BACTEC Plus bottles and the bioMerieux (Durham, NC) BacT/Alert FAN bottles to remove vancomycin and allow bacterial pathogens to grow. Each bottle was spiked with 10 ml of human blood, vancomycin, and vancomycin susceptible strains of methicillin susceptible S. aureus, methicillin resistant S. aureus, E. faecium, E. faecalis, S. viridans, and S pneumoniae. Testing was completed in triplicate using 100-200 cfu/ml of organism with varying concentrations of vancomycin. Two rounds of testing were completed on different days. Bottles were mixed and loaded onto instruments per manufacturer’s instructions. Vancomycin removal was evaluated on the basis of time to detection (TTD) up to five days of incubation.

Reprinted with Permission from BD