Dr Bhavi Ravindran1,2, Ms Vivian Leung3,4,5, Ms Kylie Carville1, Professor Jodie McVernon1,5, Associate Professor Caroline Marshall3,4,5
1Victorian Infectious Diseases Reference Laboratory at the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, Melbourne , Australia, 2National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia, 3Infection Prevention and Surveillance Section, Royal Melbourne Hospital, Melbourne, Australia, 4Victorian Infectious Diseases Service, Royal Melbourne Hospital, Melbourne, Australia, 5Department of Infectious Diseases, University of Melbourne at the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, Melbourne, Australia
Biography:
Dr Bhavi Ravindran is a Public Health Registrar and Master of Applied Epidemiology Scholar at the Victorian Infectious Diseases Reference Laboratory at the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity. He has completed a Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Medical Science (Honours) and a Masters of Public Health.
Abstract:
Introduction
Hospital-acquired bloodstream infections (HABSIs) occur while receiving healthcare. By definition they develop 48 hours or more after hospital admission and have morbidity and mortality impacts. Currently, Staphylococcus aureus bacteraemias and central line associated bloodstream infections are reportable through mandatory surveillance within Victoria, but other bloodstream infections are not. This study provides an overview of the epidemiology of all HABSIs in a quaternary hospital.
Methods
All patients admitted to the Royal Melbourne Hospital between 1 August 2020 to 31 July 2023 with HABSI were included. HABSI was defined as any growth of a non-commensal organism from a blood culture obtained 48 hours after admission (duplicate results were excluded). Information collected included age, dates of admission, discharge, and positive blood culture and organism.
Results
There were 791 episodes of HABSI among 548 patients. Median patient age was 63 years (IQR 49-75), 58% were male and the median length of stay was 29 days (IQR 16-43). There were 125 unique organisms identified. The most commonly occurring organisms were E.coli (114/791, 14%), followed by S.aureus (105/791, 14%) and K.pneumoniae (62/791, 7%).
There were differences in HABSI onset between S. aureus and E. coli (median 4 vs 13 days, p<0.001), but not for patient age (p = 0.5) or length of stay (p = 0.6).
Discussion
This study highlights the current epidemiology of HABSIs at a large quaternary facility, with preliminary findings demonstrating differences between selected organisms. Further work is required to determine feasibility of expanding current surveillance activities.