Molecular Diagnosis of Bacteremia in a Pediatric Intensive Care Unit: A Step Forward

Abstract

<b>Aim:</b> T2Bacteria^® Panel detects six ESKAPE pathogens in around 3.5 h directly in whole blood. Our aim was to compare T2Bacteria with simultaneous blood culture in critically ill children with suspected bloodstream infection. <b>Materials & methods:</b> Retrospective study of critically ill children admitted to our tertiary-care center (2018-2020). <b>Results:</b> A total of 60 patients were recruited, including 63 episodes and 75 T2Bacteria/blood cultures were performed. Overall agreement between T2Bacteria and blood culture was 78.7% with a discordance of 21.3% (16/75 samples). <b>Conclusion:</b> T2Bacteria Panel may be useful in critically ill children providing an accurate and fast diagnosis of bacteremia directly from blood sample and detecting pathogens not recovered in blood cultures.