Trends of Multidrug-Resistant Pathogens, Difficult to Treat Bloodstream Infections, and Antimicrobial Consumption at a Tertiary Care Center in Lebanon from 2015-2020: COVID-19 Aftermath.

After applying exclusion criteria, we analyzed 1614 blood cultures out of 8314 cultures. We isolated 85 species, most commonly Eco, at 52%. The isolation density of total BSI in 2020 decreased by 16%: 82 patients were spared from bacteremia, with 13 being DTR. The isolation density of CRE BSI/1000 PD decreased by 64% from 2019 to 2020, while VREfm BSI decreased by 34%. There was a significant decrease of 80% in Ab isolates (p-value < 0.0001). During COVID-19, restricted antimicrobial consumption decreased to 175 DDD/1000 PD (p-value < 0.0001). Total carbapenem consumption persistently decreased by 71.2% from 108DDD/1000 PD in 2015-2019 to 31 DDD/1000 PD in 2020. At SGHUMC, existing epidemics were not worsened by the pandemic. We attribute this to our unique and dynamic collaboration of antimicrobial stewardship, infection prevention and control, and infectious disease consultation.