International journal of infectious diseases : IJID : official publication of the International Society for Infectious Diseases
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The objective of this study was to provide a Trinidadian perspective on pediatric community-acquired and hospital-acquired bacteremia via the documentation of common etiologic agents, antimicrobial profiles of the isolated pathogens, and patient outcome. ⋯ The bacteremia rate was found to be 8.4% among hospitalized children suspected of having sepsis and from whom a blood culture was positive. Bacteremia was also associated with a high mortality rate of 15.1%. An unusually high level of bacteremia with Gram-negative enteric bacteria was seen, which might indicate cross infection and reflect a breakdown in infection control measures. Relatively high-level resistance of S. pneumoniae to penicillin and ceftriaxone was not seen, even though the overall prevalence of resistance to other antibiotics among other pathogens was relatively low. The drugs that showed the greatest efficacy were imipenem, gentamicin, ciprofloxacin, and the cephalosporins ceftazidime and ceftriaxone.