Prevalence of common nosocomial organisms in surgical Intensive Care Unit in North India: A hospital-based study

BACKGROUND: Nosocomial infection presents with high mortality rate, and it remains a diagnostic and treatment challenge for health-care providers, with developing countries having the highest incidence and mortality rates.[1] AIM: The present study was undertaken to evaluate prevalence of commonly isolated nosocomial organisms in patients admitted in Surgical Intensive Care Unit (ICU) in Government Medical College Srinagar. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study was proposed to be conducted in surgical ICU of Shri Maharaja Hari Singh – a Tertiary Care Hospital in Jammu and Kashmir (India) from March 2015 to March 2016. The patients developing ICU infections within 48 h of admission in ICU or within 48 h of transfer from ICU were included in the study. RESULTS: Forty patients showing different types of infections were included, 92 samples were collected which included 39.13%, 27.17%, 8.70%, 7.61%, 10.87%, and 6.52% blood, urine, swab, sputum, pus, and endotracheal tube (ETT) samples, respectively. From these samples, 27.78%, 76.0%, 87.5%, 71.43%, 80.0%, and 33.33% samples of blood, urine, swab, sputum, pus, and ETT, respectively, were found positive, i.e. showed the growth of microorganisms. A total of 10 types of microorganisms were isolated (Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas spp., Klebsiella spp., Acinetobacter spp., Staphylococcus aureus, Enterococcus, Enterobacter spp., Proteus spp., Citrobacter spp., and Candida spp.) from six types of samples among which maximum number of microorganisms were isolated from swab which was followed by blood and urine, while minimum number of microorganisms were isolated from ETT. Further, among ten microorganisms isolated, the highest percentage was recorded for Pseudomonas spp., which was followed by Klebsiella spp. and E. coli, while the lowest percentage was recorded for Proteus spp. CONCLUSION: There was a predominance of Gram-negative bacilli than Gram-positive bacilli.