Analysis of clinical isolates collected from patients with VAIs
From 2013 to 2018, we collected 150 clinical isolates from patients with VAIs—including AVG- and TCC-related infections—undergoing hemodialysis in our institution (Figure 1). To investigate the prevalence of different species of bacterial infections across time, we divided the study period into two intervals: (1) from 2013 to 2014 and (2) from 2015 to 2018. The total number of collected isolates decreased in the second interval; however, the prevalence of S. aureus infection increased by approximately 20% (Table 1). Moreover, the patients undergoing hemodialysis were mainly infected by Gram-positive bacteria, particularly S. aureus , S. argenteus , and CoNS. P. aeruginosa and BCC species were the main Gram-negative bacteria causing VAIs in our institution.
Regarding species isolation according to VAI types,Staphylococcus spp. were mostly isolated from AVG-related infections, whereas BCC species were mainly isolated from TCC-related infections.