False-positive blood cultures: The need for follow-up

Suverna Kirolikar, Ambreen Pandrowala, Sangeeta Joshi, Ruchira Misra, Sujata MushrifIndian Journal of Medical Microbiology 2020 38(3):469-471 The diagnosis of blood-borne infections in immunocompromised patients is a major challenge for the clinical microbiology laboratory. Isolation of bloodborne pathogens in these patients has profound clinical implications, yet is fraught with technical problems, including the presence of unusual and difficult to isolate pathogens. Coupled with this is the problem of false-positive blood culture signals from automated blood culture systems which further delays the definitive diagnosis. Here, we present a case of an 8-year-old boy with Ph +ve acute lymphoblastic leukaemia who has repeated 'false positive' blood cultures and later grew an uncommon organism.
Source: Indian Journal of Medical Microbiology - Category: Microbiology Authors: Source Type: research