title: Epidemiology of antimicrobial resistance in bloodstream infections.
abstract: Antimicrobial resistance in bacterial pathogens is a worldwide challenge leading high morbidity and mortality in clinical settings. Multidrug resistant patterns in gram-positive and -negative bacteria have resulted in difficult-to-treat or even untreatable infections with conventional antimicrobials. Since the early identification of causative microorganisms and their antimicrobial susceptibility patterns in patients with bacteremia and other serious infections is lacking in many healthcare institutions, broad spectrum antibiotics are liberally and mostly unnecessarily used. Such practice has, in turn, caused dramatic increases in emerging resistance and when coupled with poor practice of infection control, resistant bacteria can easily be disseminated to the other patients and the environment. Thus, availability of updated epidemiological data on antimicrobial resistance in frequently encountered bacterial pathogens will be useful not only for deciding on empirical treatment strategies, but also devising an effective antimicrobial stewardship program in hospitals.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Infectious Diseases , Hacettepe University School of Medicine , Ankara , Turkey.
authors.forename: Murat
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Akova
mesh_terms: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D016470:Bacteremia / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology; D003428:Cross Infection / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology; D024881:Drug Resistance, Bacterial; D004755:Enterobacteriaceae / Q000187:drug effects; D006090:Gram-Negative Bacteria / Q000187:drug effects; D006094:Gram-Positive Bacteria / Q000187:drug effects; D006801:Humans; D017053:Infection Control; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests; D013211:Staphylococcus aureus / Q000187:drug effects
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents
keywords: antimicrobial resistance; antimicrobial stewardship; bloodstream infection; multidrug resistance