Introduction: Blood stream infections are the 13th leading cause of death, and over the past 2 decades the ageadjusted death rate from septicemia has risen by 78%, The impact on patient outcome is tremendous; Blood stream infections increase the mortality rate, prolong patient stay in an intensive care unit and in the hospital, and generate substantial extra costs Material and Methods: Three samples were collected in cases of suspected or sonographically diagnosed congenital heart disease spacing venipuncture at least 30 minutes apart. The blood which had drawn was immediately inoculated into blood culture bottle containing brain heart infusion broth. Results: Out of 65 cases studied growth of Bacteria was obtained in 18 cases (27%) of blood samples. Bacterial isolates: 20, Gram Negative Bacilli: 11 (61%), Gram Positive cocci: 06 (33%), Fungal isolate 1, Candida albicans: 1 (5%). Conclusion: Blood culture provides a valuable guide to the clinicians in selecting an appropriate antimicrobial regiment to improve the therapeutic outcome. Culture positivity rate was 32%. Most common gram negative bacilli isolated were Klebsiella. Neonates showed high culture positivity rate.

Keywords: Blood stream; ICU; Infections.