Clinical and Interpretive

This assay is used in identifying slow-growing bacteria responsible for infections of sterile body fluids, tissues, or wounds. One common example is Cutibacterium acnes. Cutibacterium acnes (previously Propionibacterium acnes) is an anaerobic gram positive bacillus that is part of the normal skin flora. C. acnes has increasingly gained recognition as a cause of prosthetic joint infection, particularly of the shoulder.

Any microorganism found where no resident flora is present is considered significant and is reported. For specimens contaminated with the usual bacterial flora, bacteria that are potentially pathogenic are identified.