Routine Incubation of BacT/ALERT FA and FN Blood Culture Bottles for More than 3 Days May Not Be Necessary

Abstract

We reviewed time to detection for 35,500 blood cultures collected in BacT/ALERT FA and FN bottles. In the first 3 days of incubation, 97.5% of the 2,609 clinically significant isolates were detected, suggesting that routine incubation for more than 3 days may not be necessary for FA and FN bottles.