Abstract
Normally, the circulating blood is sterile, but in front of some infectious diseases may be the appearance of microorganisms in the bloodstream. Bacteremia is detected by performing blood cultures that are an important diagnostic tool for determination of circulating pathogens. This study aimed to evaluate the isolation and identification of bacteria from blood cultures in the period July 2009 to July 2010 in a university hospital in southern Minas Gerais. Blood cultures were performed by using the blade in three-phase blood culture and identification of bacterial strains isolated based on the miniaturization of susceptibility testing with broth dilution previously dehydrated already incorporated in the panels SIEMENS ® Combo. We analyzed 1388 blood cultures where 1290 (93%) were negative and 98 (7%) were positive. The hospital with the largest number of isolates in the ICU was 18% of the isolates and the most prevalent organism was Staphylococcus epidermidis (22%) followed by Staphylococcus aureus (18%) and Klebsiella pneumoniae (17%). Bloodstream infections in hospital environment should be investigated with the aid of HICC that measures be taken to minimize its impact.