Your patient was admitted for a gunshot wound about a week ago.As a precautionary activity,the doctor placed her on antibiotics for a few days while recuperating.Blood specimens are drawn on the patient a couple of times a day,every day,and sent down to the microbiology lab for analysis of bacteria.Nothing has grown in culture.After her 4th day in the hospital--no fever,no infection identified--one set of blood specimens has been reported positive for a bacterium.The culture was identified by the lab as Staphylococcus epidermidis,a common organism on the skin.Predict the likely situation leading to this.

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Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Staphylococcus epidermidis is a common skin organism and is often found as a contaminant in blood cultures. It is possible that the positive culture is due to contamination during the blood draw rather than an actual bloodstream infection. Other factors such as the length of time between the gunshot wound and the positive culture and the lack of other signs of infection suggest that this is a likely explanation.

Your Patient Was Admitted for a Gunshot Wound About a Week