Gram-negative bacteremia upon hospital admission: when should Pseudomonas aeruginosa be suspected?

BACKGROUND: Pseudomonas aeruginosa is an uncommon cause of community-acquired bacteremia among patients without severe immunodeficiency. Because tension exists between the need to limit unnecessary use of anti-pseudomonal agents and the need to avoid a delay in appropriate therapy, clinicians require better guidance regarding when to cover empirically for P. aeruginosa. We sought to determine the occurrence of and construct a model to predict P. aeruginosa bacteremia upon hospital admission. METHODS: A retrospective study was conducted in 4 tertiary care hospitals. Microbiology databases were searched to find all episodes of bacteremia caused by gram-negative rods (GNRs)

Duke Scholars

Author Deverick John Anderson Medicine, Infectious Diseases