News

On June 11, BD Life Sciences, one of the leading manufacturers of blood culture media bottles (BD BACTECTM blood culture vials), notified customers to expect an impending shortage in blood culture media bottles. BD has recently relayed that the supply disruption associated with BD’s plastic bottle supplier, is more complex than initially predicted and will affect its ability to keep up with global demands. The impact of this shortage is expected to affect patient care and the ability to diagnose and treat bloodstream infections, including bacterial and fungal sepsis.

BD will be providing updates on the status of the shortage here as they become available. BD expects to relay another update by September 2024. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are both working closely with BD and have released communications about the shortage, including the FDA’s recommendations on best practices for utilization of BD BACTEC blood culture media bottles. The FDA has further added blood culture media to the medical device shortage list.

The BD Life Sciences Microbiology division, as well as representatives from the CDC and blood culture utilization experts from Johns Hopkins Hospital, presented at the July 15 CDC Laboratory Outreach Communication System (LOCS) call, which focused on responses to this emerging disruption. A transcript of the call will be available on the CDC LOCS website soon. The LOCS meeting presenters, as well as a few additional experts, will also present on this topic at an upcoming Infectious Disease Society of America (IDSA)-CDC clinician call on July 23. Registration for the call is available here.

In the meantime, ASCP members are encouraged to review best practices on utilization of blood culture media bottles and monitor processes to ensure both routine disinfection practices to minimize the risk of blood culture contamination, and proper blood collection volumes to avoid the risk of requiring re-collection. ASCP will also be releasing a free “Blood Culture Collection Best Practices for Laboratory Professionals” eLearning course in the coming weeks. This eLearning course can be shared to phlebotomy teams and other members of the laboratory team who conduct and monitor blood culture collection processes. Enrollment details for this course will be posted here when the course launches.

ASCP member concerns on this topic can be directed to the CDC’s Division of Laboratory Systems at DLSinquiries@cdc.gov.