Yanchao Liu,1 Jianhui Li,2 Hainan Wen,1 Cuixin Qiang,3 Shoujun Xie,1 Jianhong Zhao3,4 

1Department of Clinical Laboratory, The Affiliated Hospital of Chengde Medical University, Chengde, Hebei, 067000, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Preventive Medicine, Chengde Medical University, Chengde, Hebei, 067000, People’s Republic of China; 3Hebei Provincial Center for Clinical Laboratories, Shijiazhuang, Hebei, 050000, People’s Republic of China; 4Department of Clinical Laboratory, The Second Hospital of Hebei Medical University, Shijiazhuang, Hebei, 050000, People’s Republic of China

Correspondence: Jianhong Zhao, Email zhaojh_2002@hebmu.edu.cn

Objective: To compare the epidemiological characteristics and drug resistance of Burkholderia cepacia isolated from blood cultures, and to provide data support and a scientific basis for the clinical treatment and detection of hospital infections.
Methods: The Hebei Province Antimicrobial Surveillance Network received 349 B. cepacia strains isolated from blood cultures reported by 83 hospitals, from 2016 to 2021. These strains were identified by MALDI-TOF MS and, the antibiotic sensitivity tests were carried out using the VITEK 2 COMPACT system. The 2023 Institute of Clinical and Laboratory Standardization drug-susceptibility breakpoints were used for drug susceptibility testing and the data were analyzed using WHONET5.6 software.
Results: A total of 349 B. cepacia strains were isolated from 2016 to 2021, including 68 strains from secondary hospitals and 281 strains from tertiary hospitals. The ratios of male: female patients with B. cepacia bloodstream infections in all hospitals, secondary hospitals, and tertiary hospitals were 1.49:1 (209/140), 2.09:1 (46/22), and 1.38:1 (163/118), respectively. Most B. cepacia strains were isolated in intensive care units (ICUs), followed by internal medicine departments, accounting for 49.57% (173/349) and 22.92% (80/349), respectively. Regarding the age distribution, most patients were elderly (> 65 years, 57.59%, 201/349), with numbers of patients gradually declining with decreasing of age. The resistance rates for levofloxacin, ceftazidime, and sulfamethoxazole decreased over the 6-year period (P< 0.05), while there were no significant changes in the resistance rates for meropenem, chloramphenicol, and minocycline (P> 0.05). There was no significant difference in drug-resistance rates between secondary and tertiary hospitals (P> 0.05).
Conclusion: Attention should be paid to bloodstream infections caused by B. cepacia, especially elderly patients and patients admitted to the ICU. The difficult treatment characteristics of B. cepacia bloodstream infections mean that laboratories and clinicians should pay careful attention to drug resistance to provide a basis for their prevention and empirical treatment.

Keywords: B. cepacia, antimicrobial resistance, secondary hospital, tertiary hospital, multicenter investigation