title: Antibiotic sensitivity pattern of gram negative bacilli isolated from the lower respiratory tract of ventilated patients in the Intensive care unit.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Lower respiratory tract infections (LRTIs) are the most frequent infections among patients in Intensive care units (ICUs).
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To know the bacterial profile and determine the antibiotic susceptibility pattern of the lower respiratory tract isolates from patients admitted to the ICU.
  
  
  METHODS
  Tertiary care hospital, retrospective study.
  
  
  METHODS
  Transtracheal or bronchial aspirates from 207 patients admitted to the ICU were cultured, identified, and antibiotic sensitivity was performed by standard methods.
  
  
  METHODS
  SPSS software was used for calculation of % R of 95% confidence interval (CI).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of 207 specimens, 144 (69.5%) were culture positive and 63 (30.4%) showed no growth. From 144 culture positives, 161 isolates were recovered, of which 154 (95.6%) were Gram negative bacilli (GNB). In 17 (11.0%) patients, two isolates per specimen were recovered. The most common GNB in order of frequency were Pseudomonas aeruginosa (35%), Acinetobacter baumannii (23.6%), and Klebsiella pneumoniae (13.6%). A very high rate of resistance (80-100%) was observed among predominant GNB to ciprofloxacin, ceftazidime, co-trimoxazole, and amoxycillin/clavulanic acid combination. Least resistance was noted to meropenem and doxycycline.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Nonfermenters are the most common etiological agents of LRTIs in ICU. There is an alarmingly high rate of resistance to cephalosporin and beta-lactam-beta-lactamase inhibitor group of drugs. Meropenem was found to be the most sensitive drug against all GNB. Acinetobacter and Klebsiella spp. showed good sensitivity to doxycycline.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Pt. B. D. Sharma University of Health Sciences, Rohtak, Haryana, India. ngoel_2003@yahoo.com
authors.forename: Nidhi
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Goel
authors.forename: Uma
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Chaudhary
authors.forename: Ritu
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Aggarwal
authors.forename: Kiran
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Bala