2025 Volume 74 Issue 2 Pages 354-361
To identify the features of bacteremia in patients on dialysis, we retrospectively examined the blood culture results taken over 6 years and 1 month at our specialized dialysis hospital. The most commonly isolated bacteria were Staphylococcus aureus including methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) (41.9%), with Staphylococcus spp. accounting for 50% or over. Importantly, vascular access, in particular, the dialysis catheter, was the focus of infection for more than 50% of patients. The isolation rate of Enterobacteriaceae bacteria was low (25.1%), and the suspected infection focus was the liver or kidney cyst. The 30-day mortality rate (10.3%) for patients with positive blood culture at our facility was lower than previous reports; however, the number of MRSA deaths (n = 7) accounted for 41.2% of the total deaths due to bacteremia (n = 17), which was significant. Patients on dialysis characteristically had a low isolation rate of Enterobacteriaceae bacteria and small number of deaths due to these bacteria. Therefore, the number of MRSA deaths was significantly high. Our results suggest that MRSA is a significant cause of bacteremia among patients on dialysis, and the dialysis catheter is a significant infection focus. In the future, studies that involved multiple facilities are needed to further clarify the etiology of bacteremia in patients on dialysis.
