Decreasing the use of anaerobic culture bottles in selected febrile patients--is it reasonable?

Background: Two sets of blood cultures are routinely obtained from febrile patients in the medical wards. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the distribution of the aerobic versus anaerobic isolates in such patients and to examine the rationale of reducing the number of anaerobic culture bottles in selected patients.

Methods: A retrospective analysis was performed of all febrile patients admitted to medical wards during 1998.