Home
HelpBlood Culture
Specimen Requirements
BacT/ALERT collection bottles (aerobic and anaerobic) must be used for this procedure.
Specimen Type: Blood
Container/Tube: BacT/ALERT collection bottles
Specimen Volume:
-Adults: use a 2-bottle set, 20 mL of blood per draw divided into 2 bottles, aerobic and anaerobic
-Children under 10 years: use a 1-bottle set, 1 mL to 4 mL of blood per draw
Stability
2 hours at Room Temp
Reference Range
No growth after 5 days.
The lab will notify the patient's ordering provider and/or inpatient floor of all positive blood cultures.
Instrumentation
BacT/ALERT Blood Culture System
Methodology
BacT/ALERT Blood Culture System (Positive bottles are gram stained, subcultured, and micro-organisms recovered and identified through convential techniques. Molecular identification is performed on the Biofire through PCR detection).
Test Schedule/Analytical Time/ Test Priority
Daily / Reported when positive, negative final at 5 days / Not available STAT
CPT (s)
87040