Stenotrophomonas maltophilia Pseudobacteraemia in a Pediatric Hospital Associated with Contaminated Citrated Tubes: Importance of Appropriate Blood Collection

Objective: Pseudobacteraemia is the occurence of false positive blood culture and might lead to initiate unnecessary therapies and healthcare resources. In this report, Stenotrophomonas maltophilia-associated pseu-dobacteraemia is defined as a result of contamination of the syringe tip with the citrated coagulation tubes without blood culture cultivation. Material and Methods: S. maltophilia was isolated from blood cultures of 14 patients within two months in our hospital, Turkiye. Identification of the S. maltophilia species was performed using conventional methods (Bactec 9240-Becton Dickinson). Results: We suspected pseudobacteraemia because of some patients had no clinic, laboratory findings for sepsis. Blood cultures were taken during hospitalization due to the fact that the patients were hospitali-zed in the intensive care unit or patients at risk of bacteremia such as hematology and oncology, and clinical deterioration such as fever and/ or their own clinical disease activation. Environmental culture samples were taken to find the source of pseudobacteraemia. S. maltophilia did not grow in any of them. Since there was no growth in environmental cultures, other blood tests taken simultaneously with the blood culture were questioned and cultures were taken from the test tubes. S. mal-tophilia with the same antibiogram as trimethoprim sulfamethoxazole resistant fluoroquinolone susceptible was isolated from blood culture growths in all citrated coagulation tubes. Conclusion: In this study, it is aimed to emphasize the importance of the steps that should be applied while taking blood culture

Automated summary

This report defines Stenotrophomonas maltophilia-associated pseudobacteraemia as a result of contamination of the syringe tip with citrated coagulation tubes without blood culture cultivation. Environmental culture samples were taken to find the source of pseudobacteraemia and S. maltophilia was not found in any of them. Blood cultures taken simultaneously with the blood culture were questioned, and cultures were taken from the test tubes. S. maltophilia with the same antibiogram as trimethoprim sulfamethoxazole resistant fluoroquinolone susceptible was isolated from blood culture growths in all citrated coagulation tubes.