A study on antibiotic sensitivity pattern of bacterial isolates in the intensive care unit of a tertiary care hospital in Eastern India

Background: Nosocomial infections are one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality in hospitalized patients especially the critically ill patients in the intensive care unit (ICU) where a large number of drugs are administered to the patient’ which in turn leads to the generation of antibiotic resistant pathogens. The present study was conducted to identify the prevalence of predominant bacterial microorganisms and their drug sensitivity and resistance in ICU of a teaching hospital in Eastern India. Methods: A retrospective record based study was conducted in the ICU of Hi-Tech Medical College and Hospital, Odisha, Eastern India from November, 2011 to October, 2012. Patients who were clinically suspected of having acquired any infection after 48 hours of admission to the ICUs were included in the study. The clinically suspected laboratory samples were collected from the patients and subjected to testing and antibiotic sensitivity. Results: The rate of nosocomial infection was 28.2%. Urinary tract infection was the most common infection (54.9%). The predominant isolate was E. coli (52.7%) followed by P. mirabilis (15.4%) and Ps aeruginosa (13.2%). E. coli was highly sensitive to Polymyxin B, Gatifloxacin and Ceftriaxone and showed high degree of resistance to Cephalexin, Cefadroxil, Tobramycin and Prulifloxacin. Conclusions: Most of the bacterial isolates were resistant to third generation Cephalosporins and Aminoglycosides. Regular surveillance of antibiotic susceptibility pattern, judicious use of antibiotics are very important for reducing the nosocomial infection rate and antimicrobial resistance. [Int J Basic Clin Pharmacol 2013; 2(2.000): 153-159]