In The News: Shortage of Blood Culture Vials Could Impact Patient Care, CDC and FDA Warn

CNN reports on the advisory issued by the U.S. Centers for Disease and Prevention of a “critical shortage” of vials manufactured by BD Life Sciences used in collecting samples for blood cultures. The company first alerted the CDC and Federal Drug Administration of delays in their supply in June, with the FDA adding the vials to their list of medical devices in short supply in July. According to the CDC, about half of all U.S. laboratories use a blood culture system only compatible with these BD BACTEC vials.

The advisory stated the shortage has the “potential to disrupt patient care by leading to delays in diagnosis, misdiagnosis, or other challenges in the clinical management of patients with certain infectious diseases.” It also suggested health care providers begin developing plans to address the shortage at their individual labs. Running out of vials completely, as mentioned in the article, is a real possibility for some hospitals.

BD Life Sciences is taking its own actions to help the situation. It will temporarily shift some vial production from plastic to glass and installing strategies for allocation and transportation in the hopes of easing the shortage’s burden.

Hospitals and health systems are said to have enacted efforts to reduce waste and unnecessary usage to work through the shortage. The goal is to make it through the shortage, which the company states should resolve in September, without having to take actions such as prioritizing patients who should receive blood cultures. Combining stewardship efforts by labs and supply strategies by the manufacturer are hoped to meet overall need.

The July 23rd CDC/IDSA Clinician Call also addressed the vial shortage. PIDS member Aaron Milstone joined representatives from CDC, IDSA, SHEA and the American Society of Microbiology (ASM) on the call. The group has continued developing strategies for mitigating the shortage with the intent of providing something it can share widely soon.