Blood Culture
A single blood culture in a sufficient volume is required for all neonates with suspected sepsis. Data suggest that 1.0 mL of blood should be the minimum volume drawn for culture
when a single pediatric blood culture bottle is used. Dividing the specimen in half and inoculating aerobic and anaerobic bottles is likely to decrease the sensitivity. Although 0.5 mL of blood has previously been considered acceptable, in vitro data from Schelonkaet al demonstrated that 0.5 mL would not reliably detect low-level bacteremia