Sunday, October 25, 2009

Is septicemia be present though blood culture is negative because the patient kept under heavy IV antibiotics?

The patient died because of infection gotten due to poor postoperative care after 15 days after surgery. She was under heavy IV antibiotic throughout all the postoperative period. Blood culture taken two days before death showed no microorganisms in blood. Is it possible that indiscriminate IV antibiotic use suppress the establishment of the fact of septicemia through blood culture?
Answer:
It would be nice if blood cultures, or for that matter any other test, were that reliable. As it is, blood cultures are more often than not negative in people with sepsis. The best one can hope for is to treat empirically with a high likelihood of getting the antibiotic choices right, and get a little lucky. The cultures done with antibiotics on board will be less likely to be positive, but there's no really practical alternative when you get right down to it. It's a sad fact of medicine that you can do everything right and still have a bad outcome.
I DO BELIEVE YOU CAN HAVE A FALSE NEGATIVE AS THE RESULT OF ANTIBIOTIC USE.
IT IS A SAD SHAME THAT OUR SCIENTISTS ARE NOT DISCOVERING SOME OF THESE ISSUES, OBVIOUSLY PEOPLE HAVE TO DIE FIRST BEFORE NOTICE IS TAKEN!
possible.

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