Abstract
A survey was performed among European intensive care physicians to obtain information about their perception and experience with selected antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Seventy-eight out of 95 (82%) participants considered having to deal with infections due to antibiotic-resistant bacteria in the intensive care unit where they work was a major or significant problem. Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and third-generation cephalosporin-resistant Enterobacteriaceae were the most frequently reported antibiotic-resistant bacteria with 69 (73%) and 67 (71%) participants reporting having treated at least one patient with such an infection during the preceding six months, respectively. Antibiotic-resistant Gram-negative bacteria, including carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae, were more frequently reported than any selected antibiotic-resistant Gram-positive bacteria, with the exception of MRSA. Fifty (53%) participants declared having treated at least one patient infected with a bacterium totally or almost totally resistant to available antibiotics during the past six months, with 8 participants having treated more than 10 such patients and 13 having treated from 3 to 10 such patients.
Highlights
Antibiotic resistance is a threat to public health and compromises appropriate therapy of infected patients, in particular for infections in the most severely ill in hospitals [1,2]
In hospitals, intensive care units are considered as areas where antibiotic resistance problems are the largest due to the combination of multiple factors
The picture of antibiotic resistance in Europe provided by this study is similar to that provided by European Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance System (EARSS) [5], with Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and third-generation cephalosporin-resistant Enterobacteriaceae being the most frequently antibiotic-resistant bacteria encountered by European intensive care physicians
Summary
Antibiotic resistance is a threat to public health and compromises appropriate therapy of infected patients, in particular for infections in the most severely ill in hospitals [1,2]. Intensive care physicians in Europe and elsewhere are confronted with patients infected by bacteria for which limited or no adequate therapeutic options are available [2,3,4]. Data on the situation of antibiotic resistance in Europe are provided by the European Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance System (EARSS) [5], these data are not specific for patients in intensive care units (ICUs). There are studies on antibiotic resistance in European intensive care patients, but these are limited to only a few ICUs and countries [1,6,7]. In an attempt to obtain information on the perception and experience of European intensive care physicians on infections caused by antibiotic-resistant bacteria, a survey was conducted through the European Society of Intensive Care Medicine (ESICM) among its members in 2009.
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