Blood culture technique based on centrifugation: developmental phase.

A quantitative and flexible blood culture system based on centrifugation of lysed blood over a density layer is described. The effect of relative centrifugal force, centrifugation time, and two different density solutions on the recovery of Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Candida albicans was determined. To demonstrate the versatility of this technique, the reisolation of 23 representative microorganisms from inoculated normal human blood was determined at a fixed centrifugation speed and time. The potential merits of this technique are discussed and compared with those of conventional blood culture methods.