The microbiological profile of nosocomial infections in the intensive care unit

Introduction: Nosocomial infections (NI) are those acquired in hospital settings. Each nosocomial infection adds 5-10 days to the affected patients' stay in the hospital and leads to extra expenditure, thus overburdening the already strained health economy. The rate of nosocomial infections ranges from 2.8% to 34.6% in various studies. Materials and Methods: We conducted this study to estimate the rate of nosocomial infections in the Intensive care unit (ICU) of a tertiary care hospital from coastal Karnataka, South India. The patients who developed infections after 48 hours of admission to the ICU were included in the study. The specific site related investigations included blood cultures and cultures of CVP or intravenous catheter tips, urine and indwelling catheter tips, endotracheal tube tips, suction catheter tips and endotracheal secretions. 97 suspected cases of nosocomial infections were studied prospectively, which were identified as per the guidelines laid down by CDC. Observations: The rate of nosocomial infections was 27. 4%. The rates of the urinary, respiratory and the intravascular catheter related infections were 55.52%, 35.78% and 11.52%, respectively. Klebsiellapneumoniae and Staphylococcus aureus were the most common isolates with maximum susceptibility to imipenem and vancomycin respectively. Environmental sampling and healthcare personnel screening showed the presence of these organisms as the local flora in our hospitals. Conclusion: Infections in the ICU patients are important problems. Adherence to infection prevention protocols and the proper monitoring and the judicious use of antibiotics are important in preventing such infections.