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  • Letter to the Editor
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Response to Struthers et al.

Journal of Perinatology volume 23, page 521 (2003)Cite this article

To the Editor:

We read with interest the study by Struthers et al1 comparing two versus one blood cultures in the diagnosis and treatment of coagulase-negative Staphylococcus in the neonatal intensive care unit. We are in the process of conducting a similar study but with substantive differences in methodology. Although they used an evidence-based protocol for skin cleansing, they did not state if evidence-based hand washing2 (which has been shown to significantly reduce contamination rates) was used throughout the study. There was no mention of the surface area of the skin standardized for cleansing, which in our unpublished study is 3 cm2 based on the study by Malathi et al.3 Quantifying colony forming units would have been useful in analyzing discordant blood culture to differentiate true sepsis from contamination.4,5

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References

  1. Struthers S, Underhill H, Albersheim S, Greenberg D, Dobson S . A comparison of two versus one blood culture in the diagnosis and treatment of coagulase-negative Staphylococcus in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. J Perinatol 2002;22:547–549.

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  2. Sharek PJ, Benitz WE, Abel NJ, Freeburn MJ, Mayer ML, Bergman DA . Effect of an evidence-based hand washing policy on hand washing rates and false-positive coagulase negative Staphylococcus blood and cerebrospinal fluid culture rates in a level 111 NICU. J Perinatol 2002;22:137–143.

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  3. Malathi I, Millar MR, Leeming JP, Hedges A, Marlow N . Skin disinfection in preterm infants. Arch Dis Child 1993;69:312–316.

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  4. St Geme JW, Bell LM, Baumgart S, D'Angio CT, Harris MC . Distinguishing sepsis from blood culture contamination in young infants with blood cultures growing coagulase-negative staphylococci. Pediatrics 1990;86:157–162.

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  5. Nataro JP, Corcoran L, Zirin S, Swink S et al. Prospective analysis of coagulase-negative Staphylococcal infection in hospitalized infants. J Pediatr 1994;125:798–804.

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  1. Royal Gwent Hospital, Newport, UK

    Raju Narasimhan & Stanley David Ferguson

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  1. Raju Narasimhan
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  2. Stanley David Ferguson
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Narasimhan, R., Ferguson, S. Response to Struthers et al.. J Perinatol 23, 521 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.jp.7210959

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