Liquoid in Blood Cultures

Excerpt

To the editor: In the article by Aronson and Bor (1) on the performance of the blood culture as a diagnostic test, emphasis is placed on the importance of culturing at least 10 mL of blood for optimal isolation of organisms. Previous reports comparing 5 mL with 2 mL, 10 mL and 15 mL with 5 mL, and most recently 30 mL with 15 mL, have all shown a greater yield of positive isolates when larger volumes of blood are cultured (2). The authors also correctly state that the optimal blood-to-broth ratio is between 1:5 and 1:10 when liquoid (sodium