Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria Spread Between ICU Patients

A study has found that 70% of intensive care unit (ICU) patients are colonized with bacteria from other ICU patients.

Researchers investigated the transmission of several strains of Staphylococcus bacteria, called CoNS, the primary cause of circulatory infections picked up by hospital patients. They took swabs from the upper and lower airways of 20 intensive care patients who had required mechanical ventilation for at least three days, and analyzed the genetic fingerprints of Staphylococcus strains to identify identical or closely related bacteria. By noting which patients harbored the same bacterial strain, the researchers could assess the transmission rates of bacteria between patients. Out of the 20 patients in the study, 14 had either passed on a bacterial strain to another patient or received one.

In six patients, the bacteria had colonized the lower airways after the patient was ventilated, suggesting that the procedure itself had introduced the bacteria. When the antibiotic resistance of the bacterial strains was analyzed, 21% were found resistant to six antibiotics, 34% to at least five, and 59% to at least four. However, none were resistant o vancomycin.

"Local guidelines for antibiotic use, close cooperation with infectious diseases specialists, and restrictions with invasive treatment are strategies that can improve infection control and lower the incidence of hospital infections,” write the researchers, who are from the Karolinska Institute (Stockholm, Sweden). Their study was published in the December 22, 2003, issue of Critical Care by Biomed Central.




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Karolinska Institute