Safe Blood Culture Transport with Polycarbonate Bottles

bioMérieux is committed to providing microbiology departments with the safest products possible, and is the only manufacturer to supply virtually unbreakable, polycarbonate blood culture bottles.

As hospital mergers become more prevalent, safe sample transport between sites is increasingly important. bioMérieux’s plastic BacT/ALERT blood culture bottles provide a safe and effective way to rapidly transport samples to the laboratory for analysis without the need for additional packaging or dedicated containers. Glass is eliminated from the workplace, offering enhanced safety for staff and ensuring biosecurity and straightforward logistics.

Sheila Norris, Technical Manager at Royal Oldham Hospital, commented: “After we centralised our service, we had
several incidents involving breakage of glass bottles during transport between the wards and the lab. The
BacT/ALERT uses plastic bottles, which means that this is no longer a problem.

” Inoculated blood cultures should be transported to the laboratory without delay to minimise the time to results and ensure rapid patient treatment. Many hospitals use pneumatic tube systems as a rapid, costeffective method of transportation, and the shatter-resistant BacT/ALERT blood culture bottles have been proven to be safe for use in vacuum transport systems without the specialised containers and padded adapters necessary for the safe transport of  traditional glass culture bottles.