Advanced Search

Journal Navigation

Journal Home

Subscriptions

Archive

Contact Us

Table of Contents

Click here for more information

SAGETRACK

Sign In to gain access to subscriptions and/or personal tools.
Clinical Pediatrics
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow References
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to Saved Citations
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Request Reprints
Right arrow Add to My Marked Citations
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Right arrow Citing Articles via Scopus
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Rowley, A. H.
Right arrow Articles by Wald, E. R.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Rowley, A. H.
Right arrow Articles by Wald, E. R.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Complore   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati   Add to Twitter  
What's this?

The Incubation Period Necessary for Detection of Bacteremia in Immunocompetent Children with Fever

Implications for the Clinician

Anne Heitzman Rowley

University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, Division of Infectious Diseases, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Ellen R. Wald

University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, Division of Infectious Diseases, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

The authors determined the time required for blood cultures to be detected as positive for the common bacterial pathogens in immunocompetent infants and children with fever who had no apparent source of infection. Records of the bacteriology laboratory were reviewed retrospectively from 1981 to 1984 for blood cultures that were positive for Haemophilus influenzae type b, Streptococcus pneumoniae, Neisseria meningitidis, Salmonella species, and group B streptococcus. Blood culturing by a conventional technique and a radiometric method were compared sequentially. Only four (1.5%) of 268 specimens were detected as positive after the second day of incubation; in each case that detection of bacteremia was delayed there was an identified source of infection. For H. influenzae, but not S. pneumoniae, significantly more bacteremias were detected earlier by the radiometric method. Discontinuation of empiric antibiotic therapy in immunocompetent children with suspected bacteremia and without focal infection appears warranted when blood cultures have been sterile for at least 48 hours.

Clinical Pediatrics, Vol. 25, No. 10, 485-489 (1986)
DOI: 10.1177/000992288602501001
Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Complore Complore   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati   Add to Twitter Twitter    What's this?