A critical shortage of blood culture bottles is affecting U.S. health care The bottles are used in about half of U.
S. laboratories with continuous-monitoring blood culture systems Cutbacks in blood cultures could lead to delayed or ineffective treatment WEDNESDAY, July 24, 2024 (HealthDay News) -- Hospitals and clinical laboratories across the United States are facing a critical shortage of bottles used to culture blood samples, federal health officials report. Without the ability to culture blood, patients might receive the wrong antibiotics to treat conditions like endocarditis , sepsis and catheter-related blood infections, the U.
S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned in a recent health advisory . “Without the ability to identify pathogens or [their susceptibility to specific antibiotics], patients may remain on broad antibiotics, increasing the risk of antibiotic resistance and Clostridium difficile -associated diarrhea,” Dr.
Krutika Kuppalli , a spokeswoman for the Infectious Diseases Society of America, told STAT. “Shortages may also discourage ordering blood cultures, leading to missed infections that need treatment,” Kuppalli added. The shortage of Becton Dickinson (BD) Bactec blood culture media bottles has been going on for weeks, and the company has warned that it could stretch into September.
Most blood cultures in this country are performed using continuous-monitoring blood culture systems, the CDC said. These systems can operate unattended .