Blood culture bottles are superior to conventional media for vitreous culture.

Background: To compare blood culture bottles and conventional media for the vitreous culture in patients with clinically suspected infectious endophthalmitis.

Design: Retrospective comparative study at KKU Eye Center, Khon Kaen University.

Participants: There were 342 patients with clinically suspected infectious endophthalmitis participated in the study.

Methods: The vitreous specimens were inoculated in both blood culture bottles and on conventional culture media (blood agar, MacConkey agar, chocolate agar, Sabouraud dextrose agar and thioglycolate broth).

Main Outcome Measures: The number of positive culture yields in both blood culture bottles and conventional media.

Results: Positive culture yields in both methods were found in 151 eyes (49.5%). There were 136 of 151 eyes (90.1%) with positive culture in blood culture bottles, whereas 99 of 151 eyes (65.6%) yielded positive cultures in conventional media. These findings were different with a statistical significance (P < 0.00001) and an odds ratio of 3.47 (95% confidence interval 1.92, 6.63). A combination of blood culture bottles and conventional media improved the yield.

Conclusions: Blood culture bottles are superior to conventional media for vitreous culture in clinically suspected infectious endophthalmitis. Vitreous culture using blood culture bottles should be recommended as the primary method for microbiological diagnosis. A combination of both methods further improves the positive culture yield.