[The clinical and microbiological comparison of the use of heated humidifiers and heat and moisture exchanger filters with Booster in mechanically ventilated patients]. / Mekanik ventilasyon tedavisi alan hastalarda isiticili nemlendirici ile isi-nem degisimi yapan filtreyle beraber Booster kullaniminin klinik ve bakteriyolojik açidan karsilastirilmasi.

Ventilator associated pneumonia (VAP) is the most frequent nosocomial infection in intensive care units that is associated with prolonged mechanical ventilation, hospitalization and increased health-care costs. Various humidifiers can be used for humidification during mechanical ventilation. Many studies were conducted to identify the effects of two different humidifiers, i.e. heated humidifiers and heat and moisture exchanger filters (HME), on VAP development; and HME filters were found to decrease the VAP frequency. In this study we aimed to compare the efficacy and safety of heated humidifiers and HME-Booster. Heated humidifier with conventional microbiologic filter (CMF-HH) or HME-Booster were used in randomization to 41 mechanically ventilated patients of our intensive care unit, and patients were divided into two groups as group 1 receiving CMF-HH (20 patients) and group 2 (21 patients) receiving HME-Booster. Daily secretion scores, endotracheal tube occlusion due to secretions, VAP development rate for the assessment of microbiological safety of humidifiers and differences in PETCO(2) and PaCO(2) values for the assessment of their effect on arterial blood gas were recorded prospectively. The measurement of PETCO(2) and PaCO(2) values were performed with the presence of humidifiers and after removing them in both groups. In both groups with the removal of CMF-HH and HME-Booster, a decrease in PETCO(2) value was identified, but the decrease in group 2 was statistically significant (p= 0.016). The decrease in PaCO(2) after removal of humidifiers was greater in group 2 than in group 1, but the difference was not significant (p> 0.05).The rate of VAP and endotracheal tube occlusion was not significantly different between the groups. The mean secretion score was lower in group 1 (p= 0.041). In conclusion, although both humidifiers have similar microbiological effects, heated humidifiers could be preferred particularly for the patients with an underlying chronic lung disease due to its positive effects on PETCO(2) values and secretion scores.

[Constitutive and inducible clindamycin resistance among nosocomially acquired staphylococci]. / Nozokomiyal stafilokok izolatlari arasinda yapisal ve indüklenebilir klindamisin direnci.

Antimicrobial resistance in Staphylococcus aureus and coagulase-negative staphylococci (CNS) has become an increasing problem in hospital settings. These strains often reveal resistance to various drug classes in addition to beta-lactam resistance. Clindamycin, as a well-tolerated and cost-effective antimicrobial agent, is used widely in the treatment of intra-abdominal and skin-soft tissue infections. However, a major concern with regard to the use of clindamycin for staphylococcal infections is the possible presence of inducible resistance to clindamycin. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of constitutive and inducible clindamycin resistance among nosocomially acquired S. aureus and CNS strains. A total of 375 staphylococcal isolates were tested for clindamycin and erythromycin by the disk diffusion induction test (D-test) according to CLSI criteria. Oxacillin disks were used for the detection of methicillin resistance. The isolates resistant to erythromycin (ER-R) and susceptible to clindamycin (CL-S) with a D-shaped zone around clindamycin disk were considered positive for inducible resistance (D-test positive). Constitutive clindamycin resistance was found in 64.6% of methicillin-resistant S. aureus, 11.8% of methicillin-susceptible S.aureus, 53.8% of methicillin-resistant CNS and 4.9% of methicillin-susceptible CNS. Erythromycin-resistant clindamycin-susceptible (ER-R/CL-S) phenotype was found more frequent in CNS than in S. aureus strains. Among these strains, inducible clindamycin resistance was detected in 90% of S. aureus and 52.2% of CNS. In conclusion, to avoid using clindamycin when the antibiotic susceptibility test result showed an ER-R/CL-S phenotype may prevent a possible clindamycin treatment failure since inducible clindamycin resistance is frequent among such isolates, however, it may also deter the use of clindamycin in the treatment of infections that would likely respond to clindamycin therapy. Decision about clindamycin use for staphylococci with the ER-R/CL-S phenotype should be made according to the local prevalence data.