Abstract
Aims: The use of anaerobic blood cultures in neonates suspected of bacteremia is based on defined risk factors and can be either routinely or selectively employed. In our children’s hospital, both aerobic and anaerobic media are used, regardless of the risk of anaerobic infection. This practice enabled us to re-evaluate the utility of anaerobic cultures in neonates.
Methods: Retrospective data of all blood cultures taken from neonates, in a single tertiary center from 2002 to 2016 were collected. The incidence and characteristics of neonates with positive anaerobic blood cultures were assessed.
Results: During the study period, 51,035 blood cultures were drawn. Of these, 1496 (2.9%) were clinically significant positive cultures. Pathogenic obligatory anaerobic bacteremia was extremely rare (N=37; 0.07% of all cultures). No specific neonatal risk factors for obligatory anaerobic bacteremia could be defined. Yet, as many as 13% (N=174) of clinically significant isolates were detected only in the anaerobic culture bottle.
Conclusion: True anaerobic bacteremia is extremely rare in neonates. Nevertheless, using anaerobic culture media may increase the overall yield of bacterial culture growth by isolation of anaerobic-facultative bacteria. This should be weighed against increasing the volume of blood used for the aerobic culture.
