I participated in another pro-con debate recently up against fellow Reflections blogger Martin Kiernan during a Webber Teleclass. The question for the debate was “Can we halve Gram-negative BSI?” (I was arguing that we can). We ran a live Twitter poll and the outcome: 59% of the 22 respondents voted that no, we can’t halve GNBSI.

The slides from my talk are here.

My argument had two main themes: that there is a sizeable preventable portion of GNBSI and we have a lot to go for, and that we need a new approach to preventing GNBSI that will require new models of collaborative working across acute and non-acute health and social case.

The image below maps out the drivers of GNBSI. Some of these are modifiable (e.g. hydration and UTI, devices, antimicrobial stewardship), and some are not (e.g. deprivation [ok technically modifiable but beyond the scope of most IPC teams!], seasonal variation). The aim here is to identify those drivers of GNBSI that are modifiable and come up with practical interventions that could make a big difference.

Hydration is a good example. The most common source of E. coli BSI (which accounts for most GNBSI) is UTIs. We know that poor hydration is an important risk factor for UTI. So if we can improve hydration – in hospitals and outside – then there’s a good chance we’ll reduce UTI and in doing so reduce E. coli BSI.   

Antimicrobial stewardship is another. If we can improve the management of Gram-negative infections in the community through appropriate therapy outside of hospital admissions, then you reduce the chance that they’ll progress to a GNBSI.

I can’t tell you for sure that we can halve GNBSI. But we must try to prevent the preventable GNBSIs!