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Updated: Sep 11, 2025

Rapid Identification of Gram Negative Bacteria from Blood Culture Broth Using MALDI-TOF Mass Spectrometry
Published on: May 28, 2014
Bacterial identification using MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry in positive blood cultures: A pilot study
Smriti Srivastava1, Akshay Shankar2, Neha Sharad1
1Department of Microbiology, Jai Prakash Narayan Apex Trauma Centre, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi 110029, India.
Background:
Early pathogen identification in the bloodstream has long been a key focus for microbiologists and clinicians, given its crucial role in patient management. Matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time of flight mass spectrometry has emerged as a valuable tool for the direct and rapid identification of organisms from positive blood cultures.
Objective:
This study aimed to evaluate the accuracy, productivity, and feasibility of two methods for the rapid detection of bloodstream infections.
Methods:
Two methods were employed in this study: One based on differential centrifugation and the other using a lysis buffer.
Results:
The addition of a lysis buffer, sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS), to the blood culture broth resulted in the identification of a greater number of microorganisms (Acinetobacter baumannii, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Klebsiella pneumonia).
Conclusion:
The application of SDS into culture broths is user-friendly and can be easily integrated into routine blood culture processing, allowing for species-level identification within hours of a positive BacT/ALERT signal.
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