Preparation of a Blood Culture Pellet for Rapid Bacterial Identification and Antibiotic Susceptibility Testing

The overall goal of this procedure is to prepare a bacterial pellet from a positive blood culture that can be used as a sample for various applications. This is accomplished by first mixing a positive blood culture with sterile water Following centrifugation. The pellet is resuspended in ammonium chloride to lice the red blood cells after a second round of centrifugation.

The pellet is resuspended in water. The final step is to use the obtained pellet for bacterial identification by matrix assisted laser desorption ionization, time of flight, gram staining, antibiotic susceptibility testing, and or PCR based tests. Ultimately acquired results can be rapidly communicated to clinicians to improve the outcome of patients suffering from bloodstream infections.