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A Comparison of Time to Positive Culture and Time to Clinical Identification of Serious Bacterial Infection in Infants

Mark A. Del Beccaro, MD

Department of Pediatrics Children's Hospital and Regional Medical Center, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington

Carla R. Clausen, PhD

Department of Laboratory Medicine, Children's Hospital and Regional Medical Center, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington

To compare the time to positive culture with the time to clinical detection of serious bacterial infection (SBI) in young infants, a retrospective case series of 949 infants age 0-60 days, who had a body fluid cultured in the emergency department or within 24 hours of admission was analyzed. Times to first report of positive culture and first clinical diagnosis of SBI were compared. Of 44 infants with positive cultures, 48% were clinically diagnosed with SBI at first evaluation. Of 21 infants with cultures reported positive after 24 hours, 14 were already diagnosed with SBI. Infections that altered therapy were identified after 24 and 36 hours in 4 infants and 1 infant, respectively. In infants with SBIs, the time to positive culture is longer than the time to identification of infection.

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