A simple educational intervention to decrease incidence of central line-associated bloodstream infection (CLABSI) in intensive care units with low baseline incidence of CLABSI.

After an educational intervention in 3 intensive care units, 34 central line-associated bloodstream infections occurred in 11,582 central venous catheter [CVC]-days, compared with 45 episodes in 10,661 CVC-days before intervention (4.22 vs 2.94 episodes per 1,000 CVC-days [30.

How many lumens should be cultured in the conservative diagnosis of catheter-related bloodstream infections?

Background: Recent practice guidelines for the diagnosis of catheter-related bloodstream infection (CRBSI) describe as an "unresolved issue" the number of lumens from which blood culture specimens should be drawn to make a conservative diagnosis of CRBSI. Our objective was to determine how many CRBSI episodes would be missed if not all catheter lumens were sampled.

Methods: We performed a retrospective study (1 January 2003-31 May 2009) in patients with microbiologically proven CRBSI in which all available catheter lumens (those that did not contain clots) were used to draw blood culture samples.

Is Candida colonization of central vascular catheters in non-candidemic, non-neutropenic patients an indication for antifungals?

Purpose: To assess the influence of antifungal therapy on the outcome of non-candidemic adult patients with central vascular catheter (CVC) tips colonized by Candida species.

Methods: A retrospective analysis of the outcome of patients with Candida colonization of their CVC tip and no concurrent candidemia was made over a 4-year period. Patients who either died or developed candidemia-invasive candidiasis (poor outcome) were compared with those who improved.