Authors : A. El-Kholy , I. Halawa , M. Abdel Fattah , M. Gaber , F.G. Youssef , T.M. Parker and E.M. Kilbane
Abstract: Community-Acquired Pneumonia (CAP) is a serious infection in children with a high rate of morbidity and mortality. Blood Cultures (BCs) have been aroutine but controversial part of the diagnostic investigation of this disease. BCs may be misleading due to false positive results. To test the hypothesis that false positive BC results exceeds true positives among BCs obtained from the in-patient sections of a referral hospital in Cairo, Egypt and to determine the frequency with which physicians change antibiotic therapy based on BC results. This cohort study was conducted in New Children`s Hospital, Cairo University (Abu El-Reish) from January to December 2005. One hundred and eighty three patients met study inclusion criteria , Data was collected using written medical records system containing admission and discharge data, radiological results and laboratory results (complete blood count and blood cultures) and treatment given. Of the 183 study patients, 26 (14.3%) had positive BCs. There were 7(4%) patients with true positive BCs and 19 (10%) patients with false positive BCs containing contaminants. Eight patients (5%) had their antibiotic regimen changed based on blood culture results. One hundered and seventy five patients (95%) had their antibiotic plan maintained or changed based on clinical grounds. Blood cultures are of limited value in the clinical management of CAP patients. The benefits of utilizing blood cultures to guide antibiotic treatment are outweighed by the costs and time involved in performing these cultures.
A. El-Kholy , I. Halawa , M. Abdel Fattah , M. Gaber , F.G. Youssef , T.M. Parker and E.M. Kilbane , 2007. Role of Blood Cultures in Management of Pediatric Community-Acquired Pneumonia in Cairo . International Journal of Tropical Medicine, 2: 59-62.