Drug Resistance of Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Enterobacter cloacae Isolated from ICU, Babol, Northern Iran

Multidrug resistant (MDR) bacteria are spread throughout the world which causes nosocomial infections, especially in Intensive Care Unit (ICU). This study aimed to investigate the resistance pattern of Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Enterobacter cloacae isolated from patients in the ICU. During 2011-2012, 30 isolates for each P. aeruginosa and E. cloacae were collected from the patients who acquired nosocomial infection after admition to the ICU at the hospitals affiliated to Babol University of Medical Sciences, Babol, northern Iran. Antimicrobial susceptibility test was performed for five category antibiotics by microdilution method. The data were analyzed by SPSS version 20 and p<0.05 was considered statistically significant. The highest resistance rate of P. aeruginosa was seen to amikacin (53.3%) followed by ceftazidime (43.3%). Also, 16.7% of E. cloacae was resistant to ceftazidime. Among P. aeruginosa isolates,18 (60%) were MDR while no E. cloacae isolates were MDR. The significant correlation was only demonstrated between MDR P. aeruginosa and the reason of hospitalization (P=0.004). In conclusion, there was alarming amount of P. aeruginosa MDR in patients in the ICU which could lead to a hazardous outcome for the patients. Therefore, new prevention policies regarding to hospital infection should be established. Also, the periodical assessment of bacterial resistance pattern particularly in ICUs should be performed.