Anaerobic blood culture positivity at a University Hospital in Hungary: A 5-year comparative retrospective study

Abstract

Anaerobic bacteremia (AB) is usually detected in about 0.5–13% of positive blood cultures. The aim of this study was to determine prevalence of anaerobic bacteremia over a 5-year period (2013–2017), to identify current trends at our University Hospital and to compare the results to those in a similar study (2005–2009) in the same region. During the study period, an average of 23,274 ± 2,756 blood cultures were received per year. Out of the positive blood cultures, 3.3–3.6% (n = 423) yielded anaerobic bacteria, representing 3.5–3.8 anaerobic isolates/1000 blood culture bottles (including both aerobic and anaerobic bottles) per year for hospitalized patients. Mean age of affected patients was 70–73 years (range: 18–102 years) with a male-to-female ratio: 0.60. Most isolated anaerobes were Cutibacterium spp. (54.0 ± 8.5%; n = 247), while among anaerobes other than Cutibacterium spp., Bacteroides and Parabacteroides and Clostridium spp. were the most prevalent. Blood culture time-to-positivity (TTP) for clinically relevant bacteria was 31.4 ± 23.4 h, while for Cutibacterium spp., TTP values were 112.9 ± 37.2 h (p < 0.0001). In conclusion, the prevalence of anaerobic bacteremia should be determined on institutional basis.