CVC related infections reported from Salam Center for Cardiac Surgery of Khartoum

Introduction: Central venous catheter (CVC) plays an essential part in clinical management of patients admitted in Intensive Care Unit (ICU), even though catheterization is an invasive procedure that may facilitate bacterial migration from the skin surrounding the catheter insertion site to the catheter tip, representing a risk factor for the arise of bacteraemia and sepsis. Aim of our study was to assess the prevalence of micro-organisms found as responsibles of CVC-related infections and check their correspondence with those found in blood cultures collected from the same patients. Methods: The study was conduced from April 2008 to March 2009. In this period were analysed 29 CVC samples sent from ICU to the laboratory of the Salam Center for Cardiac Surgery of Khartoum (Sudan). CVC was removed after pericatheter skin disinfection and its tip was cut, put in a sterile container and finally sent to the laboratory, where it was immersed in Brain Heart Infusion (BHI) and incubated at 37°C.A first culture of the sample on Blood Agar plate was done after an incubation period of 1 hour, the second one after 24 hours. In case of bacterial growth were practiced identification and sensitivity test of the isolated bacteria. Results: Of the 29 analysed samples 38% showed bacterial growth of which 27% caused by gram positive and 73% by gram negative bacteria. The identification tests showed also that among gram positive-related infection predominated those caused by Methicillin-Resistent Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) (67%), while among the gram negative infections predominated those caused by Pseudomonas spp (57%), followed by Enterobacter spp and Serratia spp. Conclusion: All the above mentioned infections were confirmed by examination of blood cultures collected simultaneously from the same patients. Furthermore the study showed that 73% of infections affected post-operative patients rather than those waiting for surgery.