[Time requirements for positive blood cultures with reference to different methods of determining bacteria in blood cultures].

The time required for the first detection of bacteria in 926 blood-cultures has been evaluated for different methods. The microscopical examination of samples after staining with acridine-orange has been found to be a rapid and simple method, which may reduce in 88% of the samples the time required for the processing and thus increase the value of blood-cultures for the treatment of patients with bacteremia significantly. The results demonstrate that a rapid detection of bacteria in blood-cultures by chemical or microscopical methods is an indispensable part of the processing of blood-cultures, although it has been used only in few bacteriological laboratories until now.