Introduction: The prevalence of hematogenous dissemination of mycobacteria is high in immunosuppressed patients. The isolation of mycobacteria in culture remains the standard procedure.
Methods: This is a cross-sectional study based on the results of solid (Löwenstein-Jensen medium) and semi-automated liquid (BACTEC 9240) blood cultures, obtained from the Lacen-GO database.
Results: The implementation of a semi-automated procedure resulted in an increase of 61.5% and 350.0% in the positive results for Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex and nontuberculous mycobacteria, respectively. This technique also accelerated the detection of positive results.
Conclusions: Semi-automated liquid blood culture showed a better performance in the diagnosis of mycobacteremia.