Effects of COVID-19 on Blood Culture Contamination at a Tertiary Care Academic Medical Center

Abstract

Understanding factors that contribute to blood culture contamination is important in order to take steps to limit contamination events. Here, we examine the effect the COVID-19 pandemic has had on blood culture contamination rates and specifically detail the effects based on the staff, draw types, and unit types. The conclusions provided here can be used as hospitals and laboratories navigate the COVID-19 pandemic or other times of high patient volume.

Next-Generation Sequencing in Critically Ill COVID-19 Patients with Suspected Bloodstream Infections: A Retrospective Cohort Study

“…In two extensive reviews, performed before SARS-CoV-2 emerged, the overall contamination rates of BC were notably lower and ranged from only 0.6 to 12.5% [ 25 , 26 ]. During the pandemic, a general increase in contamination rate in specimens from COVID-19 individuals was observed, presumably caused by a high workload, newly trained staff, wearing full personal protective equipment, and time pressures [ 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 ]. Since this study was conducted during the peak of the second and third waves of the pandemic, these aspects may also have been major contributors to this study.…”

Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on blood culture practices and bacteremia epidemiology

“…Consequently, an increased number of blood culture vials are processed by clinical laboratories during winter and automated blood culture instruments could be overwhelmed [ 3 , 4 ]. Considering COVID-19 pandemic, an increase in blood culture contaminants was reported during the first wave of the pandemic in comparison to the pre-epidemic period [ 5 , 6 ].…”

Effect of Wearing Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for COVID-19 Treatment on Blood Culture Contamination: Implication for Optimal PPE Strategies

“…Blood culture is an important test in febrile COVID-19 patients, and the demand for blood culture has surged during the early pandemic. 4 The previous studies reported increased blood culture contamination rates during the COVID-19 pandemic compared to the preceding pandemic, 5 6 7 8 but comparative studies during the COVID-19 pandemic are rare. This study aims to evaluate the effect of wearing PPE on implementing sterilization guidelines by comparing the blood culture contamination rate of COVID-19 quarantine patients and that of general patients.…”

“… 7 Increased contamination rates of blood culture were reported in COVID-19 patients; however, these studies conducted in US, Europe and Japan and the study periods included the epidemic waves, when the number of COVID-19 patients surged. 5 6 7 8 During the COVID-19 waves, adequate infection prevention and control activities may not have been maintained due to a lack of medical resources and manpower. Due to the number of COVID-19 patients maintained at a low level through the end of 2021 in Korea, there was no shortage of medical resources for treating COVID-19 patients, 9 allowing us to evaluate the effect of wearing PPEs itself on the contamination rates of blood culture.…”

“…We believe this is an inherent limitation of big data analysis and a limitation shared in the previous reports. 5 7 8 …”