Impact of COVID-19 on hospital-acquired bloodstream infections

Editor's Note

This study led by researchers at Ascension Health Care, St Louis, finds that COVID-19 was associated with substantial increases in hospital-acquired bloodstream infections, which were largely attributed to COVID-19 infected patients.

A total of 1,417,036 admissions in 69 US hospitals were analyzed before (703,556) and during (713,480) the COVID-19 pandemic on events linked to 5 pathogens (Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Candida sp).

Among the findings:

• COVID-19 patients were less likely to be admitted with community-acquired bloodstream infections compared to others—10.85 vs 22.35 per 10,000 patient days.
• There was a significant increase between prepandemic and pandemic hospital-acquired bloodstream infection rates—2.78 vs 3.56 per 10,000 patient days.
• COVID-19 patients were 3.5 times more likely to develop hospital-acquired bloodstream infections compared to those without COVID-19—9.64 vs 2.74 per 10,000 patient days.

The findings indicate that patients with COVID-19 infection were less likely to be admitted with invasive bacterial infections compared to other patients. However, the increase in hospital-acquired bloodstream infections was almost all attributed to COVID-19 patients, underscoring their vulnerability to healthcare associated invasive infections.

Hospital-acquired bloodstream infections, from all causes, may be a valuable surveillance metric during a pandemic, the researchers note.