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Bacteremia Definition and Grades
- Bacteremia is the presence of bacteria in a normally sterile bloodstream and is always pathological.
- It differs from colonization in other body parts and varies in grade depending on bacterial load and consistency.
Understanding Bacteremia Grade
- Blood culture results help determine bacteremia grade through number of positive bottles and time to positivity.
- High-grade bacteremia grows rapidly and in multiple bottles; low-grade bacteremia is intermittent and less consistent.
Intravascular Sources of Bacteremia
- High-grade bacteremias often come from intravascular sources like infected lines or endocarditis.
- Persistent positive blood cultures suggest an intravascular source, unlike transient bacteremia from localized infections.