Low Blood Culture Contamination Rates Sustained in Children during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Area of Science:

• Pediatrics
• Infectious Diseases
• Epidemiology

Background:

• The COVID-19 pandemic prompted changes in medical practices, potentially affecting laboratory testing.
• Adult studies suggested increased blood culture contamination with universal precautions, but pediatric data were lacking.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on pediatric blood culture contamination rates.
• To assess the effectiveness of active feedback on contamination rates in a pediatric emergency department.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective observational study at a Japanese tertiary children's hospital.
• Compared pediatric blood culture data from pre-COVID-19 (2017-2019) and COVID-19 (2020-2022) periods.
• Analyzed patient visits, blood cultures drawn, contamination rates, and infection sources.

Main Results:

• Pediatric blood culture contamination rates remained stable at 1.0% during both periods (P=0.54).
• Occult bacteremia cases significantly decreased during the COVID-19 period (P=0.015).
• The proportion of bacteremia from respiratory pathogens also declined (P=0.015).

Conclusions:

• Active physician feedback likely maintained low blood culture contamination rates during the pandemic.
• Enhanced infection control measures may have altered pediatric infectious disease patterns, reducing bacteremia.