Direct inoculation method using BacT/ALERT 3D and BD Phoenix System allows rapid and accurate identification and susceptibility testing for both Gram-positive cocci and Gram-negative rods in aerobic blood cultures.

This study describes a direct inoculation method using the automated BacT/ALERT 3D and the BD Phoenix System in combination for identification and susceptibility testing of isolates from positive blood cultures. Organism identification and susceptibility results were compared with the conventional method for 211 positive aerobic blood cultures. Of 110 Gram-positive cocci (GPCs), 98 (89.1%) isolates were correctly identified to the species level. Of 101 Gram-negative rods (GNRs), 98 (97.0%) isolates were correctly identified to the species level. The overall categorical agreement in antimicrobial susceptibility testing among the 110 GPCs was 92.7%, with 0.04% very major and 0.7% major error rates. The overall categorical agreement among 78 isolates of enterobacteria and 23 isolates of nonfermenters in GNRs was 99.5% and 91.1%, respectively, with no major errors identified. We conclude that, compared with previously reported direct inoculation methods, our method is superior in identification and susceptibility testing of GPCs.