Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2015 Jun 7:15:223.
doi: 10.1186/s12879-015-0972-2.

Clinical infectious outcomes associated with biofilm-related bacterial infections: a retrospective chart review

Alice E Barsoumian  1 , Katrin Mende  2   3 , Carlos J Sanchez Jr  4 , Miriam L Beckius  5 , Joseph C Wenke  6 , Clinton K Murray  7 , Kevin S Akers  8   9
Affiliations

Clinical infectious outcomes associated with biofilm-related bacterial infections: a retrospective chart review

Alice E Barsoumian et al. BMC Infect Dis. .

Abstract

Background: Biofilms are associated with persistent infection. Reports characterizing clinical infectious outcomes and patient risk factors for colonization or infection with biofilm forming isolates are scarce. Our institution recently published a study examining the biofilm forming ability of 205 randomly selected clinical isolates. This present study aims to identify potential risk factors associated with these isolates and assess clinical infectious outcomes.

Methods: 221 clinical isolates collected from 2005 to 2012 and previously characterized for biofilm formation were studied. Clinical information from the associated patients, including demographics, comorbidities, antibiotic usage, laboratory values, and clinical infectious outcomes, was determined retrospectively through chart review. Duplicate isolates and non-clinical isolates were excluded from analysis. Associations with biofilm forming isolates were determined by univariate analysis and multivariate analysis.

Results: 187 isolates in 144 patients were identified for analysis; 113 were biofilm producers and 74 were not biofilm producers. Patients were primarily male (78 %) military members (61 %) with combat trauma (52 %). On multivariate analysis, the presence of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (p < 0.01, OR 5.09, 95 % CI 1.12, 23.1) and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (p = 0.02, OR 3.73, 95 % CI 1.46, 9.53) were the only characteristics more likely to be present in the biofilm producing isolate group. Infectious outcomes of patients with non-biofilm forming isolates, including cure, relapse/reinfection, and chronic infection, were similar to infectious outcomes of patients with biofilm-forming isolates. Mortality with initial infection was higher in the biofilm producing isolate group (16 % vs 5 %, p = 0.01) but attributable mortality was low (1 of 14). No characteristics examined in this study were found to be associated with relapse/reinfection or chronic infection on multivariate analysis.

Conclusions: Bacteria species, but not clinical characteristics, were associated with biofilm formation on multivariate analysis. Biofilm forming isolates and non-biofilm forming isolates had similar infectious outcomes in this study.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Donlan RM. Biofilm formation: a clinically relevant microbiological process. Clin Infect Dis. 2001;33(8):1387–92. doi: 10.1086/322972. - DOI - PubMed
    1. National Institute of Health . Research on microbial biofilms: PA Number: PA-03-047. 2002.
    1. Akers KS, Mende K, Cheatle KA, Zera WC, Yu X, Beckius ML, Aggarwal D, Li P, Sanchez CJ, Wenke JC, Weintrob AC, Tribble DR, Murray CK, the Infectious Disease Clinical Research Program Trauma Infectious Disease Outcomes Study Group Biofilms and persistent wound infections in United States military trauma patients: a case–control analysis. BMC Infect Dis. 2014;14:190. doi: 10.1186/1471-2334-14-190. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Kennedy P, Brammah S, Wills E. Burns, biofilm, and a new appraisal of burn wound sepsis. Burns. 2010;36(1):49–56. doi: 10.1016/j.burns.2009.02.017. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Donlan RM. Biofilms and device-associated infections. Emerg Infect Dis. 2001;7(2):277–81. doi: 10.3201/eid0702.010226. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

Publication types