Nosocomial Bacteremia in HIV Patients: The Role of Peripheral Venous Catheters

Abstract
A retrospective case-control study compared 40 human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected patients with 43 nosocomial bacteremias (NB) to 77 HIV-infected patients without NB. Presence of a peripheral venous catheter (PVC) was associated with occurrence of NB and was significantly more frequent in NB without an identified source. PVCs probably are an underestimated source of NB in HIV-infected patients.