Clinical significance of enterococci in blood cultures from adult patients.

The significance of enterococci in the blood cultures of 79 adult patients encountered in a 21-month period was reviewed by means of clinical data. One blood culture consisted of an aerobic and an anaerobic bottle. Patients were divided according to the clinical picture into those with "likely", "possible", and "dubious" septicemia. Those with "likely" septicemia showed significantly more positive sets and more often two positive bottles in a single set taken on the same day than patients in the other categories. They also grew cultures with shorter detection times, with 90% of all cultures eventually yielding enterococci within three days after collection. Finally, probability figures relating positivity in one or two bottles to detection time and category of significance are presented. They may be used prospectively to assess the chances of a blood cultures reflecting any of the three above categories.