**3.4.2 Blood culture vials**

Automated incubation and fluorometric detection of bacterial growth improves sensitivity compared with conventional liquid culture broths (Font-Vizcarra et al., 2010; Levine & Evans, 2001). However, there are potential drawbacks. Firstly, the possibility to determine leukocyte counts is lost if no native material is saved. Secondly, if the sample volume falls short of three milliliters, standard aerobic and anaerobic blood culture bottles may lack sensitivity. Pediatric vials are optimized for culture of lower sample volumes, but it is possible that some anaerobic bacteria are missed due to the composition of the medium (Morello et al., 1991).
