Colonization of bacteria on polyvinyl chloride and Teflon intravascular catheters in hospitalized patients

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Abstract
Over 8 mo. all intravascular catheters were removed by sterile technique upon completion of use and submitted to the hospital microbiology laboratory. All catheters were routinely cultured by the semiquantitative culture technique, with .gtoreq. 15 colonies [bacteria, yeasts] being defined as a positive result. Of 687 teflon catheters cultured, 6.9% were positive by culture, compared with 24.6% of 77 polyvinyl chloride catheters (P < 0.001). Colonization of coagulase-negative staphylococci on polyvinyl chloride was more than on teflon. Evidently, polyvinyl chloride catheters are colonized more frequently with organisms than are teflon catheters; there is an increased affinity of coagulase-negative staphylococci for polyvinyl chloride as compared with teflon, substantiating previous observations with an in vitro system. Thus, the type of catheter material may be important in determining the incidence of catheter-related infections and in selective colonization by coagulase-negative staphylococci.