Clinico-microbiological study of infections in the intensive care unit and study of antimicrobial resistance in bacterial isolates.

ABSTRACT

Infectious disease specialists have long recognized that the risk of ICU patients acquiring nosocomial infections is 5-10 times greater than those in general wards. Several factors such as severe underlying disease, multiple illnesses, malnutrition, extremes of age, immunosuppression, use of invasive medical devices, ICU crowding and animate reservoirs increase the risk of acquiring infections in the ICU. Out of 113 isolates obtained in our study, 32.7% were from ventilator-associated pneumonia patients and 17.7% from urinary tract infection patients. The major isolates were Staphylococcus aureus (21.2%) and Klebsiella spp. (20.4%). Methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and ESBL producing Klebsiella and E. coli were the major drug resistant bacteria isolated and associated with significant mortality. Control of these infections poses a major problem in treating the patients because of the rising trend of drug resistance among these bacteria.