The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between bacteremia and body flora in 27 patients with catheter-related bacteremia (CRB) encountered during the use of transient catheters placed for hemodialysis. For each patient whose catheter was removed due to the infection, hemoculture was made in addition to the catheter culture, and concurrently swab specimens were taken from nasal and axillar areas, hand, and skin adjacent to the catheter area. Gram-positive growth was detected in 96.3 % of 27 cases with CRB (female, 10; male, 17). Of the culture samples concurrently taken from the catheter orifice, 11 cases had positive cultures consistent with the catheter culture results. There was statistically a significant relationship between the culture results of catheter orifice and catheter (p<0.0001). The greater the number of punctures was, the higher was the significance of bacterial growth was (p<0.0001, r:0.3632). The nasal cultures of 13 cases (48.1 %) yielded staphylococci (12 methicillin-resistent S. aureus, 1 coagulase-negative staphylococci). There was also a significant relationship between the presence of nasal bacterial growth and CRB (p: 0.00047). Significant bacterial growth was observed in hand swabs in 3 cases. There was statistically a significant relationship between positivity of culture from hand and the development of CRB (p:0.0073). It should be kept in mind that the increased number of punctures to the central vein during catheterization would also increase the risk for bacteremia and that carriage of staphylococci should be eradicated.