Etiology and clinical features of 229 cases of bloodstream infection among Chinese HIV/AIDS patients: a retrospective cross-sectional study

• DOI: 10.1007/s10096-016-2724-7
• Publication Date: 2016-08-08T11:42:45Z
• Authors: T. Qi; R. Zhang; Y. Shen; L. Liu; D. Lowrie; W. Song; J. Chen; Z. Wang; J. Shen; R. Cai; L. Guan; B. Luo; Y. Tang; H. Lu
• Keywords: Adult; Aged, 80 and over; Male; 0301 basic medicine; China; Adolescent; Bacteria; Fungi; HIV Infections; Middle Aged; Prognosis; 3. Good health; Young Adult; 03 medical and health sciences; Cross-Sectional Studies; Sepsis; Prevalence; Humans; Female; Hospitals, Teaching; Aged; Retrospective Studies

Bloodstream infections (BSIs) are prevalent among people living with HIV/AIDS. The etiology varies in different regions and different periods. We aimed to survey the etiological and clinical features of BSIs in HIV patients in mainland China. We assessed all HIV patients with a positive blood culture in a Chinese teaching hospital from September 2009 through December 2014. We excluded those with specimens likely to have been contaminated. We used Pearson's chi-squared test to measure the differences in characteristics among subgroups of different pathogens. Among 2442 Chinese HIV-seropositive inpatients, 229 (9.38 %) experienced BSIs. The most common pathogens detected included Cryptococcus neoformans (22.7 %), Penicillium marneffei (18.8 %), Mycobacterium tuberculosis (15.3 %), and non-tuberculous mycobacterium (14.8 %). 30/229 (13.1 %) HIV patients with BSIs had a poor prognosis. BSIs are prevalent in hospitalized patients with HIV/AIDS in China. Fungi and mycobacteria are the predominant pathogens.