Community-Acquired Bacteremia in a Teaching Hospital in Saudi Arabia

Abstract

During one year, 153 episodes of community-acquired bacteremia were documented at King Khalid University Hospital in Riyadh, with an incidence of 6.7 cases/1000 admissions. Over 70% of the isolates were gram-negative organisms. Brucella sp. accounted for 42% of all isolates. The other common iso lates were Escherichia coli and streptococci. The origin of infection could be identified in 79% of patients with non-Brucella bacteremia, with the urinary and respiratory tracts the most common sources of bacteremia. The mortality of bacteremia in this series was 5.2%. Streptococcus pneumoniae bacteremia was associated with the highest mortality.IOM Al-Orainey, MNS Al-Nasser, ES Saeed, SA Al-Habib, MNH Chowdhury, Community-Acquired Bacteremia in a Teaching Hospital in Saudi Arabia. 1989; 9(6): 547-550 Bacteremia is a serious problem confronting clinicians, as it is associated with a high mortality. Studies done on bacteremia in the West have shown a change in the pattern of the causative organisms, with increasing gramnegative bacteremias, especially in hospital-acquired infections.1-5 The few reports from developing countries showed a different pattern of community-acquired bacteremia, with an increased frequency of pathogens such as Salmonella. [6][7][8] There is very little data on community-acquired bacteremia in Saudi Arabia. This study was therefore undertaken to assess the incidence and pattern of community-acquired bacteremia in a university hospital in Saudi Arabia. Material and MethodsThe study was conducted at King Khalid University Hospital in Riyadh over a period of one year, between 1 November 1986 to 30 October 1987. Patients with community-acquired bacteremia were included. For the purpose of the study, community-acquired bacteremia was defined as an infection present on or before admission to hospital. Bacteremias occurring after admission to the hospital were considered hospital-acquired infections and were excluded from the study.The hospital records of patients with community-acquired bacteremia were reviewed for demographic data, symptoms and signs of infection, results of laboratory tests and cultures, underlying diseases, predisposing factors, therapy, and outcome of each episode of bacteremia. The origin of infection was identified by examining culture results and clinical data. Laboratory MethodsBlood cultures were performed by drawing 10 ml of blood aseptically from each patient and inoculating 5 ml into each of two bottles, one containing tryptic soy broth and the other thiol broth (Difco Laboratories, Detroit,

Blood Stream Infections: Micro-Organisms, Risk Factors and Mortality Rate in Qatif Central Hospital

“…are associated with high mortality rates. [12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31] Mortality from streptococcal BSI has been found to be 23%, 32 which is similar to the 26% reported at this hospital. Mortality due to S. aureus has ranged from 3.7% 10 to 49%.…”