Etiology of ICU infections and antibiogram of the isolates at referral center in Riyadh

Patients undergoing treatment in intensive care unirs [ICU] are prone to increased risk of developing serious and life-threatening infections. These infections become more significant in immunocompromised particularly those caused by multi-resistant pathogens. In order to determine the etiology of intensive care unit [ICU] acquired infections and identify the predominant infecting organisms in a tertiary care hospital in Riyadh. We retrospectively examined the sites of infections, causative agents and their susceptibility to commonly used drugs. Of the 984 specimens processed in 1994, 261 grew normal flora; pathogenic bacteria were isolated from 672 patient specimens. The majority of the specimens yielding pathogens came from respiratory tract [385], followed by blood [149], urine [40], and others. Most frequently isolated pathogens were pseudomonas aeruginosa [153], escherichia coli [152], staphylococcus aureus [103], klebsiella pneumoniae [99] and serratia marcescens [48]. Seven% of the infections were polymicrobial. Susceptibility of the organisms to following drugs was tested: ampicillin amoxicillin and clavulanic acid amikacin, cephazolin, cefoxitin, ceftriaxone, ceftazidime, clindamycin, erythromycin, gentamicin, imipenem, oxacillin, penicillin, piperacillin, and vancomycin. The most inhibitory antimicrobial agent was imipenem which inhibited 98% of both gram-positive and gram-negative clinical isolates

comparative evaluation of Sch 25298 a fluorinated derivative of chloramphenicol

To determine the in vitro activity of Sch 25298, a fluorinated derivative of chloramphenicol. Determinations of minimum inhibitory concentration by agar dilution method of Sch 25298 and chloramphenicol against 922 recent clinical isolates. King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Sch 25298 was more inhibitory than chloramphenicol against both methicillin-susceptible and methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus, coagulase negative staphylococci, enterococci, Haemophilus influenzae and members of Enterobacteriaceae. Its antibacterial activity against streptococci was comparable with that of chloramphenicol. All the 89 isolates of Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Acinetobacter were resistant to both Sch 25298 and chloramphenicol. Sch 25298 exhibited more potent antibacterial activity than chloramphenicol against most of the bacteria tested. Many of the chloramphenicol-resistant isolates were susceptible to Sch 25298

Beta-lactamase production in recent clinical isolates of Haemophilus influenzae and their susceptibility to cefaclor and other antimicrobial agents

The ability of 383 recent clinical isolates of Haemophilus influenzae to produce beta-lactamase was detected by using cefinase discs. It was found that 8% of the isolates elaborate this enzyme. Since cefaclor supposedly is not inactivated by beta-lactamases of H. influenzae, we studied the in vitro activity of this cephalosporin and compared it with other commonly used antimicrobial agents against isolates of H. influenzae from 383 patients at a tertiary care referral hospital in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Cefaclor was found to be most active, inhibiting 98% of the isolates tested, followed by amoxycillin/clavulanic acid and gentamicin [95%], chloramphenicol [93%], cephalothin [90%], ampicillin [87%], tetracycline [77%] trimethoprim-sulphamethoxazole [65%] and erythromycin [47%]

Incidence of Chlamydia infections in a large metropolitan hospital in Saudi Arabia

In order to determine the prevalence of Chlamydia trachomatis infections in patients at a metropolitan referral centre in Riyadh we examined various clinical specimens from 19 234 patients during the period from January 1986 to August 1991; 61% of the subjects were females and 39% males. Of the 19 234 patients tested 2210 [11%] yielded positive results for Chlamydia antigen. Positive reactions from ocular sites accounted for 1361 [61.6%] patients and the antigen was detected from genital sites in 849 [38.4%] patients. Chlamydial infection rate in women was 10.8% compared with 12.5% for men; the highest number of positives occurred in the 26-45 year age group

In-vitro susceptibility of relatively resistant bacteria to imipenem

In vitro activity of imipenem was tested against 965 clinical isolated from a major referral center in Saudi Arabia. Many of these strains were highly resistant to commonly used antibiotics, such as ampicillin, cephalosporins, gentamicin, pperacillin, and ticarcillin. All the 727 isolated of Enterobacteriaceae, Acinetobacter, Staphylococcus aurous, enterococci, and other streptococci were susceptible to imipenem. Of the strains of Pseudomonas aeruginosa [95%] and S. epidermidis [90%] were also inhibited. Nine of the 11 isolates of pseudomonads other than P. aeruginosa were resistant to this antibiotic

Susceptibility of pathogenic bacteria to amoxicillin/clavulanic acid[Augmentin] at a referral hospital

A total of 957 strains of basteria isolated from clinical specimens were tested in vitro to determine the efficacy of amoxicillin/clavulanic acid [Augmentin]. Sixty-seven percent of the 538 strains of Enterobacteriacease, 93% of 174 Staphylococcus aureus, and all the 48 isolates of enterococci were inhibited by Augmentin. All the 156 strains of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, P. Fluorescens, Enterobacter, Serratia, and shigella flexneri were resistant to Augmentin. Augmentin showed considerably increased activity against Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Proteus species, and staphylococci when compared with ampicillin