Reevaluation of anaerobic blood cultures in a Veteran population

BACKGROUND: Studies suggest that the selective use of anaerobic blood cultures may represent a more cost-effective laboratory approach when anaerobic bacterial infection is suspected. METHODS: A 5-year retrospective study was done at a Veterans' Affairs hospital to determine the utility of routinely including anaerobic blood culture when sampling for bacteremia. RESULTS: A total of 22,075 anaerobic blood cultures were collected from our adult population. Significant anaerobic pathogens were isolated from only 0.14% of these blood cultures. An anaerobic infection could have been suspected in 92% of our patients. CONCLUSIONS: Significant anaerobic bloodstream infections occurred in only 0.14% of blood cultures. In addition, the majority of the patients identified with anaerobic bacteremia had clinical conditions that would have suggested a high likelihood of anaerobic bacteremia. These observations suggest that selective rather than routine use of anaerobic blood cultures may be appropriate in a veteran population.