Abstract

Objective: We aimed to determine the resistance rates of Pseudomonas aeruginosa strains isolated from nosocomial bloodstream infections against commonly-used antibiotics.

Methods: We evaluated the P. aeruginosa strains isolated from bloodstream infections at the Practice and Research Hospital, Faculty of Medicine, Cumhuriyet University between 2007 and 2012. Identification of the strains and antimicrobial sensitivity tests were carried out using Phoenix 100 (Becton Dickinson Co., Sparks, MD, USA) automatized system based on the suggestions of the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute.

Results: A total of 128 strains isolated from patients’ blood samples were included in the study. Of these strains, 72 were isolated from blood samples of patients hospitalized in the intensive care units, and 56 from blood samples of patients hospitalized in other units of the hospital. While colistin and amikacin were antibiotics with the lowest resistance rates (1.6%), the resistance rates of piperacillin-tazobactam, ceftazidime, cefepime, imipenem, meropenem, ciprofloxacin, levofloxacin, gentamicin, and aztreonam were found to be 6.3%, 19.5%, 28.9%, 20.3%, 20.3%, 12.5%, 20.3%, 7.8%, 50.0%, respectively. The rate of multi-drug resistant P. aeruginosa was 3.9%, rising to 6.9% in the intensive care units.

Conclusions: P. aeruginosa is one of the most important pathogens in nosocomial infections and it is possible that the increasing rates of resistance to all antibiotics will cause more treatment failures in the future. The results suggest prospective concerns for the treatment of Pseudomonas infections. We think that the local data we have gathered as a result of our study, when used in the struggle against nosocomial Pseudomonas infections, will contribute to create successful empirical therapy models and to the prevent spread of such microorganisms.