Treatment outcomes among patients with mycobacterial blood stream infection in a tertiary hospital:a retrospective study form 2019 to 2023.

BACKGROUND: Mycobacteria are rare causes of blood stream infections (BSI). Mycobacterial BSI is associated with a significantly increased risk of early death compared with other bacterial blood infectious diseases. Clinical characteristics and mortality rate of different Mycobacteria BSI remain unclear.

METHODS: A retrospective study of patients with positive mycobacterial blood cultures hospitalized between January 1, 2019, and June 30, 2023, at Shenzhen Third People's Hospital, a 1500-bed tertiary university-affiliated hospital in southern China, was performed. Clinical characteristics and mortality rate of patients with different Mycobacteria BSI were reviewed and analyzed.

RESULTS: Forty-one hospitalized patients with positive mycobacterium blood cultures were identified. Of the 41 participants, 37 (90.2 %) were newly diagnosed with HIV/AIDS. 7 (17.1 %) BSI was caused byand 34 (82.9 %) was by non-tuberculosis mycobacteria. Twelve patients died, with an overall mortality rate of 29.3 %. The median day from admission to death is 24 days. More than 70 % (30/41) of patients were treated with three or more antibiotics for mycobacterial BSI. The mortality rate was higher in the TB-BSI group compared to the NTM-BSI group (57.1 % vs. 23.5 %, p = 0.110). The median time from hospital admission to death was similar for both groups (NTM-BSI: 27.5 days; TB-BSI: 19 days).

CONCLUSION: The mortality rate of patients with mycobacterial BSI is high. Mycobacterial BSI occur mostly in severely ill patients with HIV/AIDS. TB-BSI was associated with a higher mortality rate compared to NTM-BSI.