Controlled Clinical Comparison of BacT/Alert FA Plus and FN Plus Blood Culture Media with BacT/Alert FA and FN Blood Culture Media

New blood culture media containing antibiotic-binding polymeric beads have been developed for the BacT/Alert (bioMérieux, Inc., Durham, NC) blood culture system. To assess the performance of these new media, we compared the new BacT/Alert aerobic medium (FA Plus) with resins to BacT/Alert FA medium with activated charcoal and the new BacT/Alert anaerobic medium (FN Plus) to BacT/Alert FN medium at 3 tertiary care medical centers. Study bottle pairs were inoculated with a target volume of 6 to 10 ml of blood from adults and incubated in the BacT/Alert 3D blood culture instrument. In the FA Plus versus FA comparison, there were 1,507 study pairs. Among 170 isolates causing true bloodstream infections (BSIs), significantly more Staphylococcus aureus (P<0.001) and total microorganisms (P<0.01) grew in the FA Plus bottle than in the FA bottle. Fewer coagulase-negative staphylococcal (CoNS) contaminants grew in the FA Plus bottle than in the FA bottle (10 versus 22; P=0.05). In addition, growth was detected earlier in the FA Plus bottle than in the FA bottle (P<0.001). In the FN Plus versus FN comparison, there were 2,386 study pairs. Among 201 isolates causing true BSIs, significantly more S. aureus (P<0.001), CoNS (P<0.005), and total microorganisms (P<0.001) grew in the FN Plus bottle than in the FN bottle. Also, significantly more CoNS contaminants grew in the FN Plus bottle than in the FN bottle (P<0.001). Overall, microorganisms were detected earlier in the FN Plus than in the FN bottle (P<0.001). Medical technologists at all 3 study sites preferred the new media for Gram stain interpretation. We conclude that the FA Plus and FN Plus media provide improved and earlier detection of microorganisms compared with the FA and FN media and are preferable for Gram stain interpretation as well.