Title:A two-year study of microbiological characteristics of intravascular catheter-related bloodstream infections at Razi Hospital, Iran

Author:Meysam Hasannejad-Bibalan, Mahsa Sadeghi, Hossein Hemmati, Mohammad Taghi Ashoobi, Tofigh Yaghoubi, Alireza Samadnia, Maziyar Bamdad Soofi and Hadi Sedigh Ebrahim-Saraie

Abstract:Objectives: A substantial proportion of healthcare-associated infections are typically associated with devices such as indwelling intravascular devices (arterial and venous catheters), resulting in increased long-term hospitalisation, cost, morbidity, and mortality. This study aimed to determine the microbiological characteristics of bloodstream infection caused by intravascular device catheters in the north of Iran.
Methods: This retrospective study was conducted between 2018 and 2019 on inpatients with catheter-related bloodstream infections. Bacterial isolation and identification were carried out using standard microbiological and biochemical techniques. The disc diffusion method was used to determine antimicrobial susceptibility.
Results: Out of 287 examined catheters, 95 (33.1%) cases were positive for significant bacterial growth. Catheter-related bloodstream infections were most frequently caused by coagulase-negative staphylococci (28.4%), Staphylococcus aureus (15.8%), Klebsiella pneumoniae (14.7%), and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (12.6%). According to antibiotic susceptibility testing, the most effective antibiotics against staphylococci were amikacin, co-trimoxazole, and tetracycline. Meanwhile, 33.3% of S. aureus isolates and 56% of coagulase-negative staphylococci were methicillin-resistant. Gram-negative isolates showed a very high rate of antibiotic resistance, even toward the last resorts antibiotics such as carbapenems.
Conclusions: Our study revealed an alarming rate of catheter-associated infection, necessitating implementing a more stringent and effective infection control policy. Additionally, our observations provide critical data for making more targeted empirical antibiotic selections based on the local antibiotic susceptibility pattern.
Key words: Healthcare-associated infection; intravascular catheter-related infections; antibiotic resistance; bacterial infection.
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