Sign-in to Ask A Doctor - 24x7
OR
Sign in with Google
Yes I Recently Went To The Er With What Seemed
Question: Yes I recently went to the er with what seemed as a cold they did a chest xray and nothing showed up. They took 2 blood cultures and sent me home. They called today and asked me to come back that one culture was positive and one culture was negative. They took 2 more cultures today and one came back negative and the other hasnt come back yet. They wanted to keep me but I declined because I have felt a lot better the last day or 2 they put me on clindamycin 300mg iv while I was at the hospital and gave me a 7 day dosage of the same thing and told me to keep an eye out for a fever or high blood pressure or rapid heart beat. Is this something that I should really be concerned about or is it possible that the positive culture was just a false positive for
Brief Answer:
Very likely the result is false-positive; it is safer to continue the antibiotic (to prevent a resistance towards the antibiotic)
Detailed Answer:
Hello and welcome to "Ask a Doctor" service,
I carefully read your query and understand your concern.
It is possible that a blood culture may come out positive while it is not positive. This is called a false-positive result and may happen due to contamination of the sample while it was taken or while it was transported or cultured.
The fact that you are much better already and that the other cultures are negative, further support the possibility that the positive blood culture result could be false.
I would recommend you to continue with the antibiotics though. This is to avoid any possible resistance. Clindamycin is a wide spectrum antibiotic and quite helpful when there is a need for good coverage from infection so it is not good to develop resistance against it.
To conclude:
- it can be that the positive blood culture result is actually false-positive, especially given that you are much better and the rest of the cultures came out negative
- I would recommend you to continue the clindamycin treatment to avoid any development of antibiotic resistance (as you have already started it, a full course should be taken).
- the antibiotic will also keep you covered if there is a small chance that there is some infection present
- make sure you rest well, drink plenty of fluids and eat frequent small amounts of food to help your body continue to recover well
- in any case, if you have any symptoms that concern you, it is best to let your doctor know (i do not think this is very likely to happen but just as a word of caution).
I hope this answers your query and is helpful to you. I remain at your disposal in case further medical assistance is needed.
Regards,
Dr. Antoneta Zotaj,
General and Family Physician
Very likely the result is false-positive; it is safer to continue the antibiotic (to prevent a resistance towards the antibiotic)
Detailed Answer:
Hello and welcome to "Ask a Doctor" service,
I carefully read your query and understand your concern.
It is possible that a blood culture may come out positive while it is not positive. This is called a false-positive result and may happen due to contamination of the sample while it was taken or while it was transported or cultured.
The fact that you are much better already and that the other cultures are negative, further support the possibility that the positive blood culture result could be false.
I would recommend you to continue with the antibiotics though. This is to avoid any possible resistance. Clindamycin is a wide spectrum antibiotic and quite helpful when there is a need for good coverage from infection so it is not good to develop resistance against it.
To conclude:
- it can be that the positive blood culture result is actually false-positive, especially given that you are much better and the rest of the cultures came out negative
- I would recommend you to continue the clindamycin treatment to avoid any development of antibiotic resistance (as you have already started it, a full course should be taken).
- the antibiotic will also keep you covered if there is a small chance that there is some infection present
- make sure you rest well, drink plenty of fluids and eat frequent small amounts of food to help your body continue to recover well
- in any case, if you have any symptoms that concern you, it is best to let your doctor know (i do not think this is very likely to happen but just as a word of caution).
I hope this answers your query and is helpful to you. I remain at your disposal in case further medical assistance is needed.
Regards,
Dr. Antoneta Zotaj,
General and Family Physician
Note: For further follow up on related General & Family Physician Click here.
Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Raju A.T
Answered by
Get personalised answers from verified doctor in minutes across 80+ specialties
