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Unclear relevance of blood cultures, persistent clinical indication of infection or risk factors (e.g. implanted foreign material)?

Is a central catheter present?

Permanent intravascular foreign bodies present?
Note:
Is the follow-up blood culture positive ?

If "No"
CAVE:
Negative blood cultures which were taken under already ongoing effective antibiotic therapy have a severely limited significance .
Explanatory Notes:
For the identification of a relevant bacteremia, ≥2 pairs of blood cultures (follow-up blood cultures) should be taken again.
If the patient has permanent intravascular foreign bodies (e.g. heart valve replacement, pacemaker/ICD, large vessel stents), targeted antibiotic therapy can be considered until the final results of these blood cultures are available .
In case of negative blood cultures an antibiotic therapy is not necessary (or can, if it was started, usually be stopped again).