151. Enterococcal bacteremia is associated with prolonged stay in the medical intensive care unit
- Author
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Viju Moses, Jayakumar Jerobin, Anupama Nair, Sowmya Sathyendara, Veeraraghavan Balaji, Ige Abraham George, and John Victor Peter
- Subjects
Bacteremia ,Duration ,Enterococcal ,Medical intensive care unit ,Mortality ,Infectious and parasitic diseases ,RC109-216 - Abstract
Background: Although enterococci are relatively common nosocomial pathogens in surgical intensive care units (ICUs), their significance in blood cultures from patients in the medical ICU is unclear. Materials and Methods: In this retrospective study spanning 2 years, the clinical and microbiological characteristics of enterococcal bacteremia among medical ICU patients were evaluated. Results: Of 1325 admissions, 35 with enterococcal bacteremia accounted for 14.8% of positive blood cultures. They were significantly older (P=0.03) and had various co-morbidities. Most had vascular (96.9%) and urinary (85.3%) catheters, and 67.7% were mechanically ventilated. In addition to blood, enterococci were isolated from vascular catheters (8.6%) and other sites (20%), while no focus was identified in 77% of patients. Prior use of broad-spectrum antimicrobials was nearly universal. All isolates tested were sensitive to vancomycin and linezolid. Resistance to ampicillin and gentamicin were 44.7% and 52.6%, respectively. Compared with other medical ICU patients, patients with enterococcal bacteremia had a longer ICU stay (P
- Published
- 2012
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