The Prevalence of Bacteria Isolated From Endotracheal Tubes of Patients in Golestan Hospital, Ahvaz, Iran, and Determination of Their Antibiotic Susceptibility Patterns

Background: Nosocomial infections including infections of surgical wounds, urinary tract and lower respiratory tract infections are a major public health problem in hospitals worldwide. Bacterial infections in the lower respiratory tract especially due to Gram negative bacilli, has remained a major complication of tracheal intubation in patients requiring ventilator equipments..Objectives: The aim of present study was to determine the presence or absence of bacterial infections in tracheal tubes and determination of their antimicrobial susceptibility patterns..Materials and Methods: In this study, specimens were collected from tracheal tubes of patients with endotracheal aspiration. The specimens were microbiologically investigated and the isolated bacteria were identified by using standard cultural and biochemical tests. The antibiotic susceptibility testing was then performed on the isolates by disc diffusion method according to CLSI guideline..Results: In total, 278 specimens had positive culture with 508 isolates. Based on the bacteriology results, Enterobacter spp. with 209 cases (41.14%) were the most prevalent genera isolated from positive cultures. The number and frequency of other isolated bacteria were as follow: Pseudomonas aeruginosa 78 (15.35%), E. coli 71 (13.97.2%), coagulase negative staphylococci 75 (14.76%), Staphylococcus aureus 71 (13.97%), and proteus spp. 4 (0.79%). Antimicrobial susceptibility testing revealed that the most resistant Gram negative isolate was P. aeruginosa with highest resistance against cefixime (70.8%), and coagulase negative staphylococci were the most resistant Gram positive isolates with highest resistance against oxacillin (84.2%)..Conclusions: In conclusion, this survey indicates the emergence of antibiotic resistant infections in the studied hospital. So, there is a need to improve the effectiveness of integrated infection control programs to control and manage nosocomial infections caused by highly resistant organisms.