Towards evidence-based emergency medicine: best BETs from the Manchester Royal Infirmary. BET 2: C-reactive protein in the diagnosis of bacteraemia.

A short-cut review was carried out to establish the sensitivity and specificity of CRP as a tool for diagnosing bacteraemia. Three studies were directly relevant to the question. The author, date and country of publication, patient group studied, study type, relevant outcomes, results and study weaknesses of these papers are tabulated. The clinical bottom line suggests that CRP is not a useful tool in the initial diagnosis of severe bacterial infection.