title: Infection Pattern of Neutropenic Patients in Post-chemotherapy Phase of Acute Leukemia Treatment.
abstract: Neutropenia following chemotherapy regimens in leukemia patients is of major concern since it makes these patients vulnerable to infections. If we can identify which germs are causing these infections, they can be annihilated or, at least, the most appropriate antibiotic therapy can be started immediately, even before we have the results of the culture. This retrospective multi-center study took place in 2012 and included patients with acute leukemia who had already undergone chemotherapy and who had been febrile for at least 16 hours. In order to assess the type of infection, different environments were chosen and the results were compared by t-test and χ(2) tests. This study took place in four hospitals in Tehran and Ahwaz, Iran. The study population was made up of 89 patients: 37 with acute lymphoblastic leukemia and 52 with acute myeloid leukemia. The results revealed that blood was the most common site of infection. From all our positive cultures, it was seen that 85.4% of them had gram-negative bacteria with a dominance of E. coli of 25.8% over the other colonies. Also, antibiograms revealed the sensitivity of almost all the gram-negatives to amino glycosides. In contrast with most of the literature, in our patients, gram-negatives are the most common cause of infection and, therefore, administering amino glycosides would be the safest antibiotic therapy to prescribe before culture results are available.
authors.affiliation: Research Center of Thalassemia and Hemoglobinopathy, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Science , Ahvaz.
authors.forename: Ahmad
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ahmadzadeh
authors.affiliation: Department of Infectious Disease, Razi Hospital, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Science , Ahvaz.
authors.forename: Mehran
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Varnasseri
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Science , Tehran.
authors.forename: Mohammad Hossein
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Jalili
authors.affiliation: Department of Infection Control, Shafa Hospital, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences , Ahvaz.
authors.forename: Fatemeh
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Maniavi
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences , Ahvaz.
authors.forename: Armita
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Valizadeh
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences , Ahvaz.
authors.forename: Mojtaba
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mahmoodian
authors.affiliation: Hematology and Oncology Research Center, Vali Asr Hospital, Tehran University of Medical Science , Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Manouchehr
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Keyhani
keywords: acute leukemia; antibiogram; infection