Study setting and bacterial isolate collection and
identification
This single-institution study was conducted between September 2013 and
December 2018 at Chiayi Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, a territory
referral hospital in Taiwan. We prospectively collected 150 bacterial
isolates from blood and contaminated device samples of 79 patients with
VAI who required removal of AVGs and tunneled‐cuffed catheters (TCCs).
We explained the study procedures to each patient and obtained informed
consent prior to performing the procedures. The bacterial isolates were
cultured under laboratory standards. The samples were routinely cultured
on blood agar at 37 °C overnight. We performed strain identification
through standard biochemical
(phenotypic) procedures by using the bioMérieux system.