Bacterial contamination of three-way taps--one Australian hospital's experience.

: The incidence and types of organisms present in the vacant ports of 424 three-way taps were studied. The taps were used in 50 children in ICU. Twenty-five (6%) of the taps showed organism growth of one to three colonies from swabs taken of one or more vacant ports. The organisms cultured were staphylococci, klebsiella, streptococci, bacilli and fungi. While there was no marked difference in the growth rate of organisms in three-way taps used in intravenous, intra-arterial and central venous lines, growth rate increased with duration of use.