Hospitals, labs, and health departments try to cope with blood culture bottle shortage
Hospitals across the country are facing a severe shortage of supplies of blood culture bottles, critical tools for diagnosing serious and sometimes life-threatening bloodstream infections.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention sent out an alert Tuesday to health care providers, laboratory professionals, health care facility administrators, and state, tribal, local, and territorial health departments warning of the shortage of Bactec blood culture medium bottles, marketed by Becton Dickinson. The shortage, which has been going on for weeks, could stretch into September, hospitals have been warned.
The blood culture bottles are a basic part of a health care provider’s effort to figuring out what is causing a bloodstream infection and determining how to treat it, Krutika Kuppalli, an infectious diseases specialist and a spokesperson for the Infectious Diseases Society of America, told STAT in an email. Bacteria such as Staphylococcus aureus can cause bloodstream infections.
“Without the ability to identify pathogens or [their susceptibility to specific antibiotics], patients may remain on broad antibiotics, increasing the risk of antibiotic resistance and Clostridium difficile-associated diarrhea,” Kuppalli said. “Shortages may also discourage ordering blood cultures, leading to missed infections that need treatment.”
