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

:Nosocomial infections including infections of surgical wounds, urinary tract and lower respiratory tract infections are a major public health problem in hospi- tals 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 bacte- rial 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 investigat- ed and the isolated bacteria were identifed by using standard cultural and biochemical tests. The antibiotic susceptibility testing was then performed on the isolates by disc dif- fusion method according to CLSI guideline. Results: In total, 278 specimens had positive culture with 508 isolates. Based on the bacteri- ology results, Enterobacter spp. with 209 cases (41.14%) were the most prevalent genera isolat- ed from positive cultures. The number and frequency of other isolated bacteria were as fol- low: 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 suscep- tibility testing revealed that the most resistant Gram negative isolate was P. aeruginosa with highest resistance against cefxime (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 efectiveness of inte- grated infection control programs to control and manage nosocomial infections caused by highly resistant organisms.