%0 Journal Article %T Impact of inappropriate antimicrobial therapy on patients with bacteremia in intensive care units and resistance patterns in Latin America %A Cort¨¦s %A J. A. %A Garz¨®n %A D. C. %A Navarrete %A J. A. %A Contreras %A K. M. %J Revista argentina de microbiolog£¿-a %D 2010 %I Asociaci¨®n Argentina de Microbiolog¨ªa %X patient care in an intensive care unit (icu) is associated with an increased risk of developing nosocomial infections. bacteremia is responsible for a great number of cases, 23% of which have attributable mortality in developed countries and can affect up to 52% of icu patients. the main cause of mortality is inadequate and inappropriate antimicrobial empirical therapy. the incorrect use of antimicrobials is a major risk for identifying multidrug resistant microorganisms, thereby involving increased morbidity, mortality and costs. implementing several surveillance systems and becoming acquainted with resistance patterns represent a valuable tool for identifying, preventing and treating this infectious complication. there is paucity of data regarding antimicrobial resistance in bacteremic patients in latin america, and the available data reveals a worrying scenario. %K bacteremia %K nosocomial infection %K latin america %K intensive care units %K antimicrobial drug resistance. %U http://www.scielo.org.ar/scielo.php?script=sci_abstract&pid=S0325-75412010000300016&lng=en&nrm=iso&tlng=en