Characteristics of Brucella’s growth curve in the Bact/Alert blood culture system / 中国感染与化疗杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To characterize the growth curve of Brucella in Bact/Alert blood culture system which may be helpful to predict the growth of Brucella strain for earlier clinical diagnosis of brucellosis.Methods The epidemiological,clinical and labo-ratory data including growth curve of Brucella were reviewed and analyzed retrospectively for 15 cases of brucellosis as con-firmed by positive serological test and brucellosis agglutination test.Results All the 15 patients had irregular fever and history of animal exposure,even though their clinical feature and signs varied greatly.The growth curve of Brucella in blood culture showed the same chracteristics in the 15 patients,includingthe time to positive alarm was about 72 hours,a longer lag phase, shorter logarithmic phase,a shorter vertical axis corresponding to the logarithmic phase,and a flat stable phase.Conclusions The clinical manifestation of brucellosis is variable and non-specific.Lack of awareness of this disease makes the clinicians mis-diagnose it easily.Therefore,blood culture is critical for clarifying the etiology in febrile patients.The growth curve of bacteria during blood culture is useful for early diagnosis of brucellosis and prevention of laboratory infections.