The COVID-19 pandemic placed pressure on health systems, exacerbating challenges and the burden of healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) worldwide. Therefore, the objective of this study is to evaluate the impact of COVID-19 on HAIs in Brazil. Study using data from the ANVISA Patient Safety Bulletin regarding laboratory-confirmed primary bloodstream infection associated with central venous catheter (CLABSI-lab) in adult intensive care units (ICUs) between 2019 and 2023. Data included total number of reported isolates, microbiological profile, hospital incidence density, and total number of hospitals. Isolates/total hospitals was calculated (to obtain a measure normalized to the number of hospitals), as well as the relative change in isolates/total hospitals between 2019 and 2023. Hospital incidence density remained constant between 2019 and 2023: 2019 (4.36 infections per 1,000 catheter-days), 2020 (4.76), 2021 (5.26), 2022 (4.34), and 2023 (4.64). The five most prevalent microorganisms from 2019–2023 were coagulase-negative Staphylococcus (32,687 isolates; 32.17%), K. pneumoniae (21,388; 21.05%), S. aureus (16,328; 16.07%), Acinetobacter spp. (13,951; 13.73%), and P. aeruginosa (7,617; 7.50%). Regarding geographic distribution, coagulase-negative Staphylococcus was the most prevalent in all regions of Brazil, with the highest number in the Southeast (14,471; 30.17%), followed by Northeast (7,607; 38.51%), South (6,089; 37.05%), Central-West (2,768; 35.35%), and North (1,752; 42.63%). For Acinetobacter spp., an increase in the total isolates/hospitals ratio was observed in 2020 (+38%), 2021 (+157.24%), 2022 (+25.24%), and 2023 (+17.08%). For coagulase-negative Staphylococcus , there was also an increase in all years: 2020 (+36.43%), 2021 (+105.98%), 2022 (+43.07%), and 2023 (+8.46%). For K. pneumoniae : 2020 (+26.86%), 2021 (+51.77%), 2022 (+12.63%), and 2023 (+5.20%). For P. aeruginosa , reductions were observed in 2020 (−17.97%) and 2023 (−5.80%), with increases in 2021 (+9.10%) and 2022 (+5.39%). For S. aureus , there was an increase in the total isolates/hospitals ratio in 2021 (+80.89%), and reductions in 2020 (−6.92%), 2022 (−3.97%), and 2023 (−8.94%). For Acinetobacter spp. and K. pneumoniae , there was an increase in the number of isolates in all post–COVID-19 pandemic years, while for P. aeruginosa and S. aureus the epidemiological profile was more heterogeneous, with increases in the years 2021, 2022, and 2021, respectively.
Boschiero et al. (2026) studied this question.