Prevalence of Pathogens Causing Central Venous Catheter (CVC)-Related Sepsis: Results of Semiquantitative CVC Tip Cultures and Differential Quantitative Blood Cultures

Background : Catheter-related sepsis (CRS) has become an important cause of nosocomial infections and the major complication with the intravenous central venous catheter (CVC) use. In this paper, we present the culture results of two years from Chonnam National University Hospital on the etiologic agents of CRS. Methods : We reviewed the culture results for the most recent two years (July 1999 to June 2001) including semiquantitative CVC tip cultures (n=622) and differential quantitative blood cultures (n=149), as well as hospital records to determine clinical correlates of CRS. CRS was defined as a positive blood culture and catheter culture with the same organism in conjunction with a CVC tip15 CFU or a central-to-peripheral blood culture colony count ratio of 5:1. Results : Forty-two (6.8%) of 622 CVC tip cultures and 13 (8.7%) of 149 differential quantitative blood cultures were associated with CRS. A total of 48 (32.0%) of 150 patients with bacteremia or candidemia were confirmed as having CRS, using semiquantitative tip cultures (30.9%, 42 of 136) and/or differential quantitative blood cultures (27.1%, 13 of 48). Twenty-one (48.8%) of 43 candidacies patients were associated with CRS and were more frequent than bacteremia due to Gram-positive cocci (27.3%, 18 of 66), and Gram-negative bacilli (23.1%, 9 of 39)(P