A seven-year surveillance of bloodstream infection at a university hospital in KSA.

OBJECTIVES

Candidemia incidence has increased in the past few years, with high mortality. Previous studies have reported a variable distribution of spp. among different regions. This study aimed to identify the species found in bloodstream infections, routine antifungal susceptibility testing, and mortality outcomes in an academic medical centre.

METHODS

Between January 2012 and December 2018, the positive blood cultures for candidemia infection were retrieved and statistically analysed for species prevalence, susceptibility pattern, and crude mortality at 14, 30, 60 and 90 days.

RESULTS

Of 156 candidemia cases, a majority (69.2%) was caused by non-albicans spp. After (30.8%), and were the second and third most frequeunt isolates spp, each counting for 23.7%. Acquired resistance was detected in 14.8% of candidemia strains. No other antifungal resistance was detected. The overall crude mortality rates of all species were 29.3%, 47.9%, 56.4%, and 58.0% at 14, 30, 60, and 90 days, respectively. A higher mortality rate was noted in cases of infection (crude mortality 71.4-100%,  = 0.002).

CONCLUSION

In this study, a considerable shift to non-albicans causing most bloodstream infections was observed. As such infections pose a serious threat to hospitalised patients, microbiology laboratories are urged to adopt rapid diagnostic and minimal inhibitory concentration-based testing for the detection of susceptible dose-dependent phenotypes. Prospective studies are essential to consider the prognosis of bloodstream infections by various species in a multivariate model.