Blood Culture, Aerobic

The Culture Aerobic Blood (Automated) test is done to check for the presence of an infection in the blood and identify its cause. It helps in diagnosis of a systemic infection caused by bacteria or yeasts in the blood. Automated cultures are more sensitive and efficient than conventional blood cultures.

The doctor may prescribe these tests when you have symptoms of a systemic infection, which include fever, chills, and an elevated white blood cell count. This test helps to identify the microorganism responsible for causing the infection and target a specific antibiotic therapy for its treatment.

If left untreated, the condition may progress to sepsis, which can lead to fatal conditions.

Bloodstream infections are most commonly caused by bacteria, yeasts, fungi, or virus.
The blood infection usually originates from a specific site within the body. It then further spread when a person gets affected by a severe infection such as in the case of urinary tract infection. The infection may spread from the bladder and/or kidneys into the blood and can be further spread throughout the body infecting other organs and causing life-threatening systemic infection.

Those who have a weakened immune system due to diseases such as leukemia or HIV/AIDS or due to chemotherapy are at higher risk for blood infections. This is due to their weak immune system which is not efficient enough to kill microbes entering the blood.

The bacterial and yeast infection can be introduced directly into the bloodstream through intravenous drug use or through surgical drains or intravenous catheters.

For culture aerobic blood test, multiple blood samples are collected for testing. Samples for the blood test are taken from different veins to increase the chances of detecting the bacteria or fungi. The blood cultures are incubated for a few days before reporting a negative result as some bacteria and fungi take time to grow and may take longer to detect.

In some laboratories, the process of culture aerobic blood test is automated with instruments which continuously monitor the bacteria or fungi growth. The advantage of this method is the timely reporting of results which helps in providing proper treatment against the detected microbes present in the blood.

For blood cultures, multiple samples are collected for testing and from different veins to increase the likelihood of detecting the microorganism that may be present in small numbers.