Nosocomial infections in the newborn intensive care unit of a maternity and children's hospital in Van, Turkey

Abstract

The patients treated in the newborn intensive care units (NICUs) are under high risk in terms of nosocomial infections. Despite the developments in antibiotherapy, these infections are still causing high mortality and morbidity. In this study, we aimed to determine the prevalence of nosocomial infections, to detect the causing pathogens and resistance patterns of antibiotics in patients in the NICU of Van Maternity and Children's Hospital. For this purpose, 621 patients in the NICU were observed for nosocomial infections between 01/09/2007 and 31/08/2008. A total of 63 nosocomial infections developed in 54 patients. The nosocomial infection rate in the NICU was found to be 8.7% by patient count and 10.1% by infection attack count. Besides, the nosocomial infection incidence density was 12.8 by patient count and 14.9 by infection attack count. Among these infections blood stream infections were the most common by 44.4% and Klebsiella pneumoniae was the most frequent pathogen. Fifteen of 20 isolated strains of K pneumoniae were positive for extended spectrum beta lactamases (ESBL). We believe that this kind of studies on NICUs would contribute to nosocomial infection control programs and would be effective on treatment of nosocomial infections.