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.