On July 23, 2024, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a Health Alert Network (HAN) message to inform healthcare providers, laboratory professionals, healthcare facility administrators, and health departments about a critical shortage of Becton Dickinson (BD) BACTEC blood culture media bottles.
BD Diagnostics, Inc. has reported an interruption in the production of BACTEC pediatric and adult aerobic and anaerobic blood culture bottles. Aculabs will be enforcing CDC recommendations to mitigate the potential impact of the shortage on patient care as blood cultures are critical for diagnosing bloodstream infections and related conditions.
The FDA recommends that healthcare providers who order blood cultures develop strategies to prioritize the use of blood culture media bottles, based on clinical need, and to maintain the quality and safety of patient care.
The CDC recommends that healthcare facilities enforce these guidelines to help optimize the utilization of blood culture bottles.
- Performing blood culture collections when medically necessary, preserving the supply for patients at the highest risk.
- Prioritizing use for patients with clinical signs and symptoms of a bloodstream infection.
Also, all Aculabs phlebotomists have been reminded about the requirements for blood culture regarding proper volume collection and the importance of aseptic techniques while drawing blood to minimize the risk of contamination of the blood culture.
Aculabs would like to reassure all client facilities that we currently have enough supplies to support our clients and that we will continue to monitor blood culture bottle availability and blood culture usage. We will continuously monitor FDA and CDC websites for any updates and keep clients updated on any changes.
For more information and guidance for blood culture priority ordering, please refer to the CDC website.