Study on Bacterial Strains Causing Blood and Urinary Tract Infections in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit and Determination of Their Antibiotic Resistance Pattern

BACKGROUND: Infections are considered as one of the main factors of neonatal mortality, especially in developing countries. Blood and urine infections are one of the most prevalent infectious factors among the infants. On the other hand, resistance against antimicrobial factors is one of the major problems in the world, and it is important to be informed about antibiotic resistance pattern of microorganisms for treatment of infections. OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to examine the bacterial strains causing blood and urinary tract infections in Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) and determine their antibiotic resistance pattern. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this study, the microorganisms of 150 blood and urine samples of infants hospitalized in NICUs of Imam Hussein Hospital, Children Hospital Center and Bahrami Hospital in Tehran, Iran, were collected during seven months, and the antimicrobial resistance patterns of the isolates were studied by the Kirby-Bauer test. RESULTS: During the seven-month study on 105 samples, including 85 (81%) urine samples and 20 (19%) blood samples, 81 samples (77.1%) were Gram-negative and 24 (22.9%) were Gram-positive organisms. Klebsiella pneumoniae (30.5%) was the most common Gram-negative microorganisms and Staphylococcus epidermidis (11.4%) was the most prevalent Gram-positive microorganisms. The most antimicrobial susceptibility in Gram-negative microorganisms was shown to ciprofloxacin (84.2%) and in Gram- positive ones was shown to vancomycin (83.3%). CONCLUSIONS: This results of the study show that the most contamination in NICUs is from Gram-negative bacteria and ciprofloxacin is the most effective antibiotic for treatment. Thus, the control of infections in NICUs in hospitals is very important.