Causative agents of bloodstream infections in two Croatian hospitals and their resistance mechanisms.

Blood samples were collected alongside with routine blood cultures (BC) from patients with suspected sepsis, to evaluate the prevalence of different causative agents in patients with bacteraemia. Among 667 blood samples, there were 122 positive BC (18%). Haemoglobin content, platelet number, and systolic blood pressure values were significantly lower in patients with positive BC, whereas serum lactate levels, CRP, creatinine and urea content were significantly higher in patients with positive BC. The rate of multidrug (MDR) or extensively drug resistant (XDR) bacteria was 24% (n = 29): (9), (9), (4), (1), vancomycin resistant spp VRE (3), and methicillin-resistant MRSA (3). The dominant resistance mechanisms were the production of extended-spectrum β-lactamases, OXA-48 carbapenemase, and colistin resistance in , VIM metallo-β-lactamases in and OXA-23-like oxacillinases in . The study revealed high rate of MDR strains among positive BCs in Zagreb, Croatia.