No abstract

Using MALDI-TOF MS directly from blood culture bottles reduces the time required for pathogen identification, and the turnaround times for final identification have been compared with overnight incubation from solid media in previous studies. However, identification from a short incubation of agar plates has been increasingly accepted and successfully implemented in routine laboratories, but there is no data comparing direct MALDI-TOF MS with the short-term, incubated agar plates.