Incidence and Aetiology of Bloodstream Infections in Intensive Care Unit Patients at National Medical College, Birgunj, Nepal

Bloodstream infection (BSI) is among the most common acquired illnesses in intensive care unit (ICU) patients and remains one of the most important causes of morbidity and mortality. The current study was aimed to evaluate the incidence of central line?associated bloodstream infections (CLA-BSIs) and bacterial aetiology among the patients admitted at ICU. This study was conducted on randomly selected 1030 patients admitted in the ICU of National Medical College and Teaching Hospital Birgunj, Nepal, from 15thApril 2023to 14th March 2024. The incidence of bloodstream infection and bacteriological profile were done by following standard technique and precautions. This study revealed that the incidence of CLA-BSI was 12.04 per 1000 catheter days. The current study revealed that Gram-negative organisms (66.67%) were the most common organisms associated with the incidence of CLA-BSI in ICU patients which followed by gram-positive organisms (27.08%) and fungal organisms (6.25%). The current study findings also reveal that Salmonella enterica, Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus and Enterococcus spp. were the most common causative agents for CLA-BSI episodes in the ICU patients. It may be prudent to turn our attention to infections caused by these pathogens that may require different approaches to prevention, e.g., optimizing central line maintenance practices.