Comparison of mortality of patients with Acinetobacter baumannii bacteraemia receiving appropriate and inappropriate empirical therapy

Objectives: To evaluate the effect of inappropriate empirical antimicrobial treatment on the mortality of patients with Acinetobacter baumannii bacteraemia. Methods: Retrospective cohort study of patients with A. baumannii bacteraemia hospitalized at the Henry Dunant hospital from January 2002 to December 2004. Results: Among 40 patients with A. baumannii bacteraemia, 22 (55%) and 18 (45%) received inappropriate and appropriate antibiotic therapy, respectively, during the 3 day period after obtaining the blood culture(s) from which the pathogen was isolated. Failure to cure the infection was more common in the first group [16/22 patients (72.7%) versus 5/18 (27.8%), P= 0.005]. Although without statistical significance, probably due to the small number of studied patients, considerably increased mortality was noted in the first group compared with the second group [13/22 patients (59.1%) versus 6/18 (33.3%), P = 0.10]. Conclusions: A. baumannii bacteraemia was associated with worse outcome regarding the cure of infection in patients who received inappropriate empirical antimicrobial treatment compared with those who received appropriate treatment.