Blood Culture Bottle Shortage
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued an alert to healthcare providers and laboratories of a shortage of Becton Dickinson (BD) blood test tubes used to diagnose bacterial and fungal infections. BD sent a letter to system users on June 11 informing of possible delays in supply of blood culture media over the coming months due to reduced availability of plastic bottles from a supplier.
According to the FDA, the disruption in supply of this device is expected to impact patient diagnosis, follow up patient management, and antimicrobial stewardship efforts. The FDA recommends laboratories and healthcare providers consider conservation strategies to prioritize the use of blood culture media bottles, preserving the supply for patients at highest risk.
The shortage is expected over the next several months and BD has said it will provide an update on supply by September. “While this supplier issue is not expected to have a material financial impact on BD, we are fully focused on returning the supply of blood culture vials to normal levels,” Nikos Pavlidis, president of BD Diagnostic Solutions, said in a statement.
In developing strategies to preserve the supply for patients at highest risk, please consider the following:
- Prioritizing use for patients with clinical signs and symptoms of a bloodstream infection.
- Performing routine disinfection of skin protocols prior to collection to minimize the risk of contamination of the blood culture.
- Ensuring proper blood volume collection to avoid a need to recollect additional samples.
- Utilizing safe blood collection and transfer devices to minimize the risk of damage to blood culture media bottles.
- Referring to the following guidelines for best practices for blood collection and potential considerations for prioritization for use of blood culture media bottles:
- Guide to Utilization of the Microbiology Laboratory for Diagnosis of Infectious Diseases: 2024 Update by the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) and the American Society for Microbiology (ASM)External Link Disclaimer.
- World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines on drawing blood: best practices in phlebotomy.
- CDC Preventing Adult Blood Culture Contamination: A Quality Tool for Clinical Laboratory Professionals.
- CDC Blood Culture Contamination: An Overview for Infection Control and Antibiotic Stewardship Programs Working with the Clinical Laboratory.