scope:

This guideline is intended to provide recommendations to clinical microbiologists, other laboratorians (eg, pathologists, supervisors and/or managers, phlebotomists), and health care providers (HCPs) for recovering pathogens from the blood of patients with suspected bacteremia, mycobacteremia, or fungemia. It is also intended for administrators who develop institutional best practices. Specific recommendations for collecting, transporting, and processing blood culture specimens are also included.

This guideline discusses the clinical significance of blood cultures, critical factors in recovering pathogens from blood specimens, selection of medium formulations and other laboratory practices, and development of interpretive criteria. It also discusses existing blood culture technologies and the relative benefits of these technologies. Special topics, including pediatric blood cultures; catheter-related bloodstream infections (CRBSIs); infective endocarditis; diagnostic testing for patients who are receiving antimicrobial therapy; rare and fastidious pathogens; and rapid diagnostic techniques, including culture-independent methods, are also covered.

This guideline does not include procedures for pathogen ID and antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST). For guidance on bacterial AST, refer to CLSI documents M02,¹¹ M07,¹² M11,¹³ M45,¹⁴ and M100.¹⁵ For guidance on fungal AST, refer to CLSI documents M27,¹⁶ M38,¹⁷ M44,¹⁸ M51,¹⁹ M60,²⁰ and M61.²¹