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Journal of Clinical Microbiology, February 2001, p. 622-624, Vol. 39, No. 2
0095-1137/01/$04.00+0   DOI: 10.1128/JCM.39.2.622-624.2001
Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

Controlled Comparison of BacT/ALERT FAN Aerobic Medium and BACTEC Fungal Blood Culture Medium for Detection of Fungemia

L. Clifford McDonald,¹ Melvin P. Weinstein,^2,3,4 Jose Fune,³ Stanley Mirrett,^1,* Larry G. Reimer,⁵ and L. Barth Reller^1,6

Clinical Microbiology Laboratory, Duke University Medical Center,¹ and Departments of Pathology and Medicine, Duke University School of Medicine,⁶ Durham, North Carolina 27710; Microbiology Laboratory, Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital,² and Departments of Medicine³ and Pathology,⁴ University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, New Brunswick, New Jersey 08901; and Department of Pathology, Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Salt Lake City, Utah 84148⁵

Received 10 July 2000/Returned for modification 16 October 2000/Accepted 6 December 2000

Yeasts are an increasingly common cause of nosocomial bloodstream infections. Methods for their detection are many; controlled comparisons are few. The vented FAN aerobic blood culture medium has been shown to be superior to the standard BacT/ALERT aerobic medium for the detection of fungemia as well as bacteremia. The BACTEC selective fungal medium (FM) (BD Biosciences, Sparks, Md.) allowed detection of more episodes of fungemia than did a resin-containing medium with equal volumes of blood cultured. Therefore, we compared vented FAN to FM for the ability to recover fungi from the blood of patients who were at increased risk of having fungemia. From 5,109 cultures processed for which both FAN and FM bottles were adequately filled, fungi were recovered from 87 cultures. Of these, 47 were detected with both bottles, 12 were detected with FAN only, and 28 were detected with FM only (P < 0.05). FAN was the first bottle positive for 36 of the 47 cultures for which both bottles yielded the same fungus, whereas the FM bottle was the first bottle positive for 11 cultures (P < 0.001). A total of 54 episodes of fungemia were identified, with 40 detected by both media, 4 detected only by FAN, and 10 detected only by FM (P value, not significant). We conclude that the vented FAN aerobic bottle is comparable to the FM bottle for detection of episodes of yeast infection but has the added benefit of detecting bacteria.

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^* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Clinical Microbiology Laboratory, Duke University Medical Center, Box 2902, Durham, NC 27710. Phone: (919) 684-2562. Fax: (919) 684-8519. E-mail: stanley.mirrett{at}duke.edu.

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Journal of Clinical Microbiology, February 2001, p. 622-624, Vol. 39, No. 2
0095-1137/01/$04.00+0   DOI: 10.1128/JCM.39.2.622-624.2001
Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

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