Abstract
BACKGROUND: Early pathogen identification in the bloodstream has long been a key focus for microbiologists and clinicians, given its crucial role in patient management. Matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time of flight mass spectrometry has emerged as a valuable tool for the direct and rapid identification of organisms from positive blood cultures. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to evaluate the accuracy, productivity, and feasibility of two methods for the rapid detection of bloodstream infections. METHODS: Two methods were employed in this study: One based on differential centrifugation and the other using a lysis buffer. RESULTS: The addition of a lysis buffer, sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS), to the blood culture broth resulted in the identification of a greater number of microorganisms (Acinetobacter baumannii, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Klebsiella pneumonia). CONCLUSION: The application of SDS into culture broths is user-friendly and can be easily integrated into routine blood culture processing, allowing for species-level identification within hours of a positive BacT/ALERT signal.