Blood Cultures Following Rectal Examination

CERTAIN types of manipulative procedures may be followed by transient bacteremia.¹These procedures include dental work, tonsillectomy, tracheal intubation, bronchoscopy, esophageal dilation, upper gastrointestinal (GI) tract endoscopy, liver biopsy, child-birth, cardiac catheterization, angiography, and examinations or surgery involving the rectum and prostate. The frequency of bacteremia following lower GI tract manipulation has varied in different reports, perhaps depending on the type of procedure and the technique used, the timing of blood samples, the culture techniques, and the investigator's interpretation regarding which of the recovered organisms were from the blood and which were contaminants. Sigmoidos-copy-associated bacteremia rates have varied from 0% to 9.5%,¹,²colonoscopy rates from 0% to 5.6%,¹,³and the rate associated with barium enema has been reported to be from 11.4% to 40%.¹,⁴Prostatic manipulation can result in frequent bacteremia under certain circumstances, as illustrated by a reported 67% bacteremia rate following massage of apparently