Characteristics of bacteremia, associated risk factors and their antibiotic susceptibility pattern at a university hospital: a descriptive, retrospective study.

Introduction: species are emerging bacteria capable of causing nosocomial infections in immunocompromised patients or patients with indwelling medical devices.

Hypothesis/ Gap Statement: Information about the incidence of bacteremia from worldwide literature is limited.

Aim: We aimed to recognize the clinical characteristics, frequency of distribution of different species isolates, and their antimicrobial susceptibility profile from bloodstream infections.

Methods: We performed a retrospective cohort study to identify all isolates of species from bloodstream infection from January 2018 to November 2022 at a university hospital in North India.

Results: We identified 42 non-duplicate isolates of species from bloodstream infection in the duration of our study. Mean age of the patients was 48.35±16.63 years. Men (22/42, 52.2 %) were more commonly affected in comparison to women (20/42, 47.6 %) but the difference was not significant. The most common species identified was (40/42, 95.24 %) followed by (2/42, 4.76 %). The co-morbidities commonly encountered in our study were chronic kidney disease (21/42, 50.0 %) followed by diabetes mellitus (12/42, 28.6 %) and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (8/42, 19.05 %). All patients had intravenous access to medications or fluid management via a central or peripheral line and mechanical ventilation was observed in 39 (39/42, 92.86 %) patients. All the isolates were susceptible to minocycline (100 %), followed by doxycycline (97.6 %) and trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (95.2 %).

Conclusion: species are capable of causing pneumonia, bacteremia and urinary tract infection in immunocompromised patients. Early diagnosis and prompt treatment with appropriate antibiotics can prevent progression to septicemia.