Timing of positive blood samples does not differentiate pathogens causing healthcare-associated from community-acquired bloodstream infections in children in England: a linked retrospective cohort study.

ABSTRACT: Paediatricians recognize that using the time-dependent community-acquired vs. hospital-acquired bloodstream infection (BSI) dichotomy to guide empirical treatment no longer distinguishes between causative pathogens due to the emergence of healthcare-associated BSIs. However, paediatric epidemiological evidence of the aetiology of BSIs in relation to hospital admission in England is lacking. For 12 common BSI-causing pathogens in England, timing of laboratory reports of positive paediatric (3 months to 5 years) bacterial blood isolates were linked to in-patient hospital data and plotted in relation to hospital admission. The majority (88·6%) of linked pathogens were isolated <2 days after hospital admission, including pathogens widely regarded as hospital acquired: Enterococcus spp. (67·2%)

SUBMITTER: Henderson KL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4531492 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature