Blood cultures in newborns and children: optimising an everyday test
- Correspondence to:
Dr Buttery, Clinical Paediatric Infectious Diseases Unit, Royal Children's Hospital, Flemington Road, Parkville, Victoria 3052, Australia;
butteryj{at}cryptic.rch.unimelb.edu.au
- Accepted 2 April 2002
Abstract
Effective use of blood cultures is a key component of the management of septic newborns and children. The technical and practical aspects of paediatric practice and the heightened susceptibility of children to infection because of immunological immaturity make automatic extrapolation of adult data difficult and potentially unfounded.
