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Test Code LAB242 Mold Blood Culture

Performing Laboratory

Barnes-Jewish Hospital Laboratory

Methodology

Note: This culture is intended for the isolation of molds and endemic/dimorphic fungi from blood.  Note: Candida and Cryptococcus are routinely detected in standard blood cultures (see LAB462).

 

Blood is inoculated into a BACTEC Myco/F Lytic bottle and continuously monitored on a blood culture instrument. Identification of fungi is based on colonial and microscopic morphology.

Specimen Requirements

Acceptable Specimens: 

Blood: Blood drawn into BACTEC MycoF/Lytic

Preferred Volume: 5 mL

Minimum Volume: 1 mL

 

Labeling Procedure:

  1. Specimen source is required.
  2. If Histoplasma, Blastomyces, or Coccidioides is suspected, indicate on request form and call to alert the laboratory.

 
Collection Procedure:
Blood

1.  Prep peripheral stick site with ChloraPrep solution (CHG) using back-and-forth friction.

2.  Scrub for 30 seconds. Allow the CHG on the skin to dry.

3.  While skin is drying, remove plastic cap from bottle and disinfect rubber top with alcohol wipe.

4.  Allow the disinfectant to dry completely.

5.   Aseptically draw blood 5mL into the bottle using the 5 mL graduation marks on the bottle label.

7.   Maintain sterility and forward promptly to the laboratory.

See Collection Instructions

Day(s) Test Set Up

Monday through Sunday

Turnaround Time:
STAT: not available
Routine: final negative report after 30 days of incubation

Test Classification and CPT Coding

87103

Reference Values

No Grwoth

Literature Reference:

1. Procop GW, Church DL, Hall GS, et al. Mycology. In: Koneman's Color Atlas and Textbook of Diagnostic Microbiology. 7th ed. Walters Kluwer; 2017:1322-1416

2. Zheng S, Ng TY, Li H, Tan AL, Tan TT, Tan BH. A dedicated fungal culture medium is useful in the diagnosis of fungemia: a retrospective cross-sectional study. PLoS One. 2016;11(10):e0164668. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0164668

Specimen Transport Temperature

Ambient/Refrigerate NO/Frozen NO

Specimen stability: 4 days

Additional Information

For BJH Laboratory Use Only

Minimum Volume:  1mL