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Abstract

A blood sampling and culturing kit for use with blood culture bottles containing a culture media under vacuum and evacuated specimen tubes. The kit includes a sterile blood collector tube assembly for transferring a blood sample from a patient into the blood culture bottles and evacuated specimen tubes; the tube assembly comprises a venipuncture needle having first and second cannulas projecting in opposite directions from a first hub and a bottle connection needle including first and second cannulas projecting in opposite directions from a second hub, with a valve in the second hub that is opened and closed by movement of one cannula. A flexible plastic tube receives the second cannula of each needle, completing a sealed passage between the needles. The kit also includes two vent control devices; each device includes a tubular housing having a central bore open at its opposite ends. A cannula projects outwardly from one end of the housing to connect the vent control device to a bottle by piercing the bottle stopper. There is a vent control element at the opposite end of the housing. In one vent control device, the vent control element is an air-permeable sterile filter consisting of a sheet of spunbond olefin; in the other, the vent control element is a plug seal slidably mounted in the central bore of the housing, which opens the housing in response to a buildup of excessive pressure within the bottle.

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First Claim