COMPARISON OF ROUTINE BLOOD CULTURE AND CLOT CULTURE FOR THE DIAGNOSIS OF ENTERIC FEVER IN A TERITIARY CARE HOSPITAL

BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY Isolation of the causative organism remains the gold standard in the diagnosis of enteric fever. The concentration of organism in whole blood is low due to inhibitory activity of the serum, so routine blood culture yields very low isolation of the organism. AIM OF THE STUDY The main aim of this study is to evaluate the performance of clot culture over whole blood culture. METHODS The study was conducted in Institute of Microbiology, Madras Medical College,RGGGH, Chennai, from June 2013 September 2013. 100 patients of age more than 18 years with fever less than one week with signs and symptoms of enteric fever were selected for this cross sectional study. RESULTS Clot culture was positive in 9 out of 100 cases and whole blood culture was positive in 3 out of 100 cases. The mean duration of clot culture positivity was 1.2 days and 2.8 days in whole blood culture. CONCLUSIONThe study reported an early diagnosis and higher sensitivity in clot culture when compared to whole blood culture. This will help reduce mortality and morbidity of patients with enteric fever