Abstract
A comparison was made of the in-use performance of an in-house broth blood culture in a general hospital during 8 mths in 1988 with that of a commercial biphasic culture (BCB system, Roche Products Pty Ltd, Sydney) for the corresponding period in 1989. The clinical services and the number of blood samples tested were comparable. The yields of organisms after 48 hrs incubation were similar in both systems. Staphylococcus aureus showed up 3 times as often after 24 hrs incubation in the conventional system as in the BCB system. Agitation of the BCB facilitated macroscopic detection of growth in the initial 24 hrs incubation.