The detection of pyrogens in sera from patients with symptoms of sepsis using an ex vivo whole blood culture assay

The aim of this study was to investigate whether the ex vivo whole blood culture (WBC) assay system can be used to detect pyrogens in blood from patients with symptoms of sepsis. Blood samples from 35 patients with symptoms of sepsis were assayed for bacterial contamination using the radiometric blood culture assay. Serum from the same patients were screened for IL-6, C-reactive protein (CRP) and pyrogens using the whole blood culture assay. Serum samples from 26 patients tested positive for pyrogens. Of the 26 patients with pyrogenic serum, 15 had elevated serum IL-6 levels and 19 had elevated CRP levels. Only two of the samples had positive blood cultures as detected by the routine radiometric assay. Both of these patients had high serum CRP and pyrogen levels, while only one of them had an elevated serum IL-6 level. These results show that the WBC is very sensitive in detecting pyrogens in serum of patients. This technique can be a useful tool to quantitate pyrogens in sera from patients with symptoms of sepsis and to determine whether their clinical symptoms are caused by pyretic substances in their circulatory system.