{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,11,2]],"date-time":"2025-11-02T10:09:13Z","timestamp":1762078153830,"version":"build-2065373602"},"reference-count":31,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"12","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,11,24]],"date-time":"2022-11-24T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1669248000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Antibiotics"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Blood cultures should be collected within an hour in the setting of sepsis\/septic shock. The contamination rate should be below 3%. Worldwide reports have described an increase in blood contamination rates during the COVID-19 pandemic. We performed a retrospective analysis of the blood cultures collected during a 10-month period (March\u2013December 2020) at NIID \u201cProf. Dr. Matei Bal\u0219\u201d. The results were compared with data from the pre-pandemic period (March\u2013December 2016) and with the existing data in the literature. During the pandemic, there was a significant decrease in the number of blood cultures collected (1274 blood cultures in 2020 vs. 5399 in 2016). The contamination rate was higher in 2020 (11.7%) compared to 2016 (8.2%), p &lt; 0.001. The rate of infectious episodes in which the etiological agent was identified was constant: 11% in 2020 versus 11.9% in 2016, p = 0.479, but there were fewer invasive bacterial\/fungal infections: 0.95\/1000 patient days in 2020 vs. 2.39\/1000 patient days in 2016, p &lt; 0.001. We observed a change in the species distribution. The Gram-negative isolate\u2019s proportion increased from 50.6% to 63.1% and the gram-positive isolate\u2019s proportion decreased from 31.8% to 19%. Collection of a low number of blood cultures and a high contamination rate was identified in our clinic. In order to improve the usefulness of blood cultures as a diagnostic method, at least two sets should be collected in aseptic conditions.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/antibiotics11121694","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,11,25]],"date-time":"2022-11-25T02:29:23Z","timestamp":1669343363000},"page":"1694","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":5,"title":["Changes in Use of Blood Cultures in a COVID-19-Dedicated Tertiary Hospital"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"11","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-3922-723X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Alina-Ioana","family":"Andrei","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Medicine, \u201cCarol Davila\u201d University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 050474 Bucharest, Romania"},{"name":"\u201cProf. Dr. Matei Bal\u0219\u201d National Institute of Infectious Diseases, 021105 Bucharest, Romania"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Gabriel-Adrian","family":"Popescu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Medicine, \u201cCarol Davila\u201d University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 050474 Bucharest, Romania"},{"name":"\u201cProf. Dr. Matei Bal\u0219\u201d National Institute of Infectious Diseases, 021105 Bucharest, Romania"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Mona Argentina","family":"Popoiu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"\u201cProf. Dr. Matei Bal\u0219\u201d National Institute of Infectious Diseases, 021105 Bucharest, Romania"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Alexandru","family":"Mihai","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"\u201cProf. Dr. Matei Bal\u0219\u201d National Institute of Infectious Diseases, 021105 Bucharest, Romania"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-5202-8417","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Daniela","family":"T\u0103l\u0103pan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Medicine, \u201cCarol Davila\u201d University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 050474 Bucharest, Romania"},{"name":"\u201cProf. Dr. Matei Bal\u0219\u201d National Institute of Infectious Diseases, 021105 Bucharest, Romania"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,11,24]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1181","DOI":"10.1007\/s00134-021-06506-y","article-title":"Surviving Sepsis Campaign: International Guidelines for Management of Sepsis and Septic Shock 2021","volume":"47","author":"Evans","year":"2021","journal-title":"Intensive Care Med."},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"801","DOI":"10.1001\/jama.2016.0287","article-title":"The Third International Consensus Definitions for Sepsis and Septic Shock (Sepsis-3)","volume":"315","author":"Singer","year":"2016","journal-title":"JAMA"},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"285","DOI":"10.1093\/cid\/cir034","article-title":"Clinical Practice Guidelines by the Infectious Diseases Society of America for the Treatment of Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus Infections in Adults and Children","volume":"52","author":"Liu","year":"2011","journal-title":"Clin. 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