Microbiota conjuntival e resistência a antibióticos em recém-nascidos prematuros internados em unidade de terapia intensiva

purpose: to analyze the conjunctival bacterial flora and the antibiotics resistance pattern in preterm newborns at the neonatal intensive care unit (nicu), in "hospital das clínicas da universidade federal de pernambuco - ufpe". methods: material from the conjunctival sac was obtained from 48 premature infants eyes that stayed at in nicu more than 48 hours. results: culture analysis revealed that 40 (83.3%) were positive and the pathogens most commonly isolated included coagulase-negative staphylococcus (43.2%) and staphylococcus aureus (25.0%), being 63.9% of the bacteria multiresistant. antimicrobial test results demonstrated great sensitivity to gatifloxacin (97.2%), vancomycin (94.4%) and ofloxacin (94.4%). conclusions: conjunctival bacterial flora among newborns in nicu is varied, mainly gram-positive, usually multiresistant to antibiotics.