Evaluation of swirling, pH, and glucose tests for the detection of bacterial contamination in platelet concentrates

Abstract

The sensitivity in detection of bacteria in platelet concentrates by the swirling technique or by measuring extracellular pH or plasma glucose is less than the sensitivity reported for microscopy with Gram stain (10(5)-10(6) CFU/mL), fluorescence microscopy with acridine orange stain (10(4)-10(5) CFU/mL), chemiluminescence detection of ribosomal RNA (10(3)-10(4) CFU/mL), and automated bacterial culture (1 CFU/sample volume).