Figure 5
eMcF generation from PBCs at different time points post flag time. Aerobic and anaerobic blood culture bottles were spiked in duplicate with human blood and clinically significant Gram-negative isolates and incubated to positivity. One set of bottles was then removed from the blood culture instrument, incubated further at room temperature (20°C), and aliquoted at 1, 4, 8, and 12 h. The other set was incubated further on the blood culture system at 37°C and aliquoted at 1, 4, 8, and 12 h. (A, B) At each time point, the bacterial concentration in the PBC was determined by plate counts (20°C in blue, 37°C in orange). PBC counts covered a fivefold range for both temperatures. (C, D) Resulting eMcFs were plated for colony counts to assess the accuracy of the eQUANT method using PBCs held post flag time for up to 12 h at 20°C (blue) or 37°C (orange). Dotted lines represent the log10 ranges around the target 1.5 × 108 CFU/mL (0.3 log, 0.4log).
