Clinical laboratory evaluation of the fifty-milliliter vacutainer blood culture tube.

The efficacy of the 50-ml vacutainer culture tube (Becton-Dickinson) for recovery of microorganisms from blood cultures was compared with laboratory-prepared blood culture media. The isolation of Bacteroides sp. was significantly higher in the 50-ml vacutainer culture tube whereas that of nonfermenting gram-negative rods and yeasts was higher in the in-house media. There was no significant difference in the recovery of all other organisms.