Objectives:

Hospital-acquired infections, especially among intensive care unit (ICU) patients not only increase the rates of mortality and morbidity, they also lead to higher treatment costs with growing antimicrobial resistance. In this study performed from January 1999 through January 2001, aetiological agents of ICU infections and their resistancy patterns to various antimicrobials were evaluated.

Methods:

Clinical specimens from suspected sites of infection of ICU patients were cultured onto 5% sheep blood agar, eosin-methylene-blue agar and Sabouraud's dextrose agar. The identification and antimicrobial sensitivity of bacterial pathogens were performed with Sceptor system (Becton Dickinson, USA).

Results:

Of 871 specimens belonging to 612 patients, 771 pathogens were isolated and identified. Four major infection sites represented 91.83% of all reported infections; lower respiratory-tract infections were most frequent (31.52%), followed by urinary-tract infections (27.88%), bloodstream infections (23.09%) and surgical-site infections (9.34%). Most commonly identified microorganisms were as follows: Pseudomonas aeruginosa (20.36%), Candida species (15.04%) and Staphylococcus aureus (12.97%). Among the Gram-negative microorganisms P. aeruginosa were mostly resistant to third generation cephalosporins (71–98%), while A. baumannii were resistant in all cases to piperacillin, ceftazidime and ceftriaxone. Coagulase-positive staphylococci were mostly resistant penicillin and ampicillin (95%), whereas coagulase-negative staphylococci were 98% resistant to methicillin and in all cases resistant to ampicillin and tetracyclin.

Conclusion:

To reduce the emergence and spread of antimicrobial-resistant pathogens in ICUs, monitoring and optimisation of antimicrobial use should be considered carefully.