A novel Colorcult hemoculture in early diagnosis of blood stream infection: A boon in meagre resources

Cinthujah Balachander 1, Priya Sundararajan 2, Vasanth Selvaraj Kailaiselvi 3 and Poongodi Santhana kumarasamy 1, *

1 Department of Microbiology, Tirunelveli Medical College, Tamil Nadu, South India.
2 Primary Health Centre, Sivagangai, Tamil Nadu, South India.
3 GV hospitals, Sankarankoil, Tamil Nadu, South India.
 
Research Article
World Journal of Biology Pharmacy and Health Sciences, 2024, 17(02), 106–110.
Article DOI: 10.30574/wjbphs.2024.17.2.0045
Publication history: 
Received on 27 December 2023; revised on 03 February 2024; accepted on 05 February 2024
 
Abstract: 
Blood stream infections (BSIs) account for major cause of morbidity and mortality. Conventional hemoculture methods are time consuming, with poor sensitivity and high risk of contamination. Automated blood culture systems are highly sensitive but are overpriced. Hence, it is not suitable for resource poor settings. In this background, this study was done to analyze the sensitivity of novel non automated chemical sensor-based blood culture and to compare the time to detection of both conventional and colorimetric method of blood culture. Blood specimens were collected from 50 study participants, admitted with suspected sepsis, inoculated into the colorcult & conventional culture media and processed as per CLSI guidelines.  Culture positive by both conventional and colorcult method was six (12%). Most of the study isolates were Gram negative bacteria (83.4%). The isolates were detected at the earliest within 96 hours by colorcult, whereas by conventional method only three (50 %) were detected within 96 hours and another three (50%) after seven days only. Owing to the escalation in BSIs associated morbidity and mortality, early diagnosis by a simple, cost effective, highly sensitive and specific method is an absolute necessity in resource poor settings. The performance of colorcult is superior to conventional method but cost effective than automated methods and can be used as an alternative method in the diagnosis of BSIs.
 
Keywords: 
Colorcult; Hemoculture; Bloodstream infections; Blood stream
 
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