Etiology of Bacteremic Syndromes and Bacterial Susceptibility of Blood Culture Isolates in a Romanian County Hospital

Aim: To present the etiology of bacteremic syndromes and antibiotic susceptibility of blood culture isolates from a Romanian county hospital, as well as their distribution within different wards.

Methods: We retrospectively analyzed the blood culture data collected from patients hospitalized in the County Emergency Clinical Hospital of Tirgu Mures over a period of two years. We followed aspects regarding the identified bacterial species, their distribution by sex, age groups and wards, the spectrum of resistance to antibiotics and main resistance phenotypes.

Results: Most positive samples came from ICU, nephrology and urology. The most isolated bacteria were coagulase-negative staphylococci, Escherichia coli, and Staphylococcus aureus. All isolates showed a high resistance to most classes of antibiotics, staphylococci being susceptible to glycopeptides, oxazolidinones and glycylcyclines, and the enterobacteria to aminoglycosides and carbapenems. The resistance in non-fermentative bacilli exceeded 80% to most classes of antibiotics. The methicillin-resistance was 36% for coagulase-negative staphylococci and 82% for Staphylococcus aureus; the percentage of extended-spectrum beta-lactamase producing strains was 30%.

Conclusions: The etiology of bacteremic syndromes is specific to the ward profile, the Staphylococcus spp. being primarily isolated from wards where invasive procedures are frequently performed, while the enterobacteria from urology and nephrology wards. The level of antibiotic resistance is higher in surgery and ICU wards, with also higher percentage of resistance phenotypes than in medical wards.