ABSTRACT
Objectives: To describe central venous catheter (CVC) colonizations and catheter-related bloodstream infections (C-RBSIs) among patients admitted in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of a tertiary care teaching hospital. Materials and methods: This was a cross-sectional study conducted among critically ill patients admitted in ICU. The semi-quantitative method was used for catheter tip culture. The definitions of catheter infection and colonization were based on the Centre for Disease Control Blood Stream Infection Guidelines. Results: The study population comprised 75 ICU patients whose CVCs had been placed. The incidence of CVC-related colonizations and bloodstream infections was observed to be 42.7% (32/75) and 17.3% (13/75) respectively. Coagulase-negative staph was the most common organism found causing CVC colonization (50%) and C-RBSI (61.5%). Conclusion: Coagulase-negative staphylococci are the most frequent microorganisms which colonize the CVC. The findings of this study may help with implementation of educational and training programs on central line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSIs) for health care personnel and enable better management of these devices with regard to the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of CLABSIs.