Expected Pathogens From Common Body Sites/Specimens - LabCE.com, Laboratory Continuing Education

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Expected Pathogens From Common Body Sites/Specimens

Body Site/Specimen	Organism(s) Commonly Expected	Comments
Blood	Staphylococcus species: Gram-positive cocci (GPC) in clusters and tetrads Streptococcus or Enterococcus species: GPC in pairs and long chains; S. pneumoniae as GPC in lancet-shaped pairs Haemophilus species: Pale pink, gram-negative coccobacilli (GNCB) Pseudomonas, enteric organisms (eg E.coli), and Bacteroides species: Gram-negative rods (GNRs) Clostridium or Listeria species: Gram-positive rods (GPRs) Yeast	Generally, only one morphotype is expected in sterile body sites. GPC are the most commonly isolated organisms in blood, including coagulase (COAG)-negative staph, S. aureus, Enterococcus species, viridans streptococci, S. pneumoniae, and beta-hemolytic streptococci. Other commonly isolated pathogens include E. coli, Candida albicans, P. aeruginosa, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Enterobacter cloacae, Proteus species, and anaerobic bacteria. Yeast may be present in the blood cultures of immunocompromised patients
Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF)	Neisseria species: Gram-negative diplococci (GNDC) Haemophilus species: Pale pink gram-negative coccobacilli (GNCB) Streptococcus species: GPC in pairs (diplococci) and long chains Staphylococcus species: GPC in clusters and tetrads Listeria: Gram-positive rods (GPR)	Generally, only one morphotype is expected in sterile body sites.