Bacteriological profile and antibiotic resistance pattern in blood stream infection in critical care units of a tertiary care hospital in North India

Abstract

Background: Blood stream infections (BSIs) are an important cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. The condition can be life threating in critically ill patients in intensive care unit (ICUs) of the hospital. Emergence of resistance among the bacterial pathogens causing these infections is another issue of the public health concern. Objectives: This study was carried out in our hospital which is attached to a medical college in North India, to know the spectrum of bacterial pathogens causing BSIs in the patients admitted to the critical care units also to know the trends of resistance among these agents. Materials & Methods: It was a hospital based retrospective cross-sectional study and was carried out in tertiary care hospital in North India. The data was collected by reviewing the records of 565 patients admitted to various critical care units (ICUs) of the hospital from May 2015 to March 2016. Results: Out of total 565 blood samples of the patients suspected of bacteremia, admitted to critical care units of the hospital 140 were culture positive. Out of these isolates 74(53%) were Gram positive bacteria (GPB) and 55(39.3%) were Gram negative bacteria (GNB) and 11(7.9%) were non-albicans Candida. The predominant bacterial isolate were Coagulase negative staphylococcus (CoNS) 49 (34.5%) followed by Acinetobacter 22 (15.4%) and Staphylococcus aureus 20 (14%). The antimicrobial resistance profile of both Gram positive and Gram negative isolates showed a high prevalence of resistance among them. Conclusion: The present study will provide the clinicians an update on high prevalence of multi-drug resistant isolates in the critical care units of the hospital. Keywords: Blood stream infections, Critical care units, Multi-drug resistance