Figure 1

Sample boxes for joint puncture (A) and revision surgery (B). A: Joint fluid is both inoculated directly into a blood culture flask (BacT/Alert, bioMérieux, Marcy l’Etoil, France) and submitted for extensive culture examination and molecular diagnostics. B: Sample tubes are colour coded in the revision surgery box in order to assist the operation staff in achieving complete sample sets. Sample tubes had a broad neck in order to facilitate the deposition of the sample.