Surveillance of nosocomial infections at a Saudi Arabian military hospital for a one-year period

UNLABELLED The objectives of the current study are to define how many and what kind of nosocomial infections are occurring, what are the causative microbes and what kind of drugs can be used in treatment of infection at Al-Hada Armed Forces Hospital, Taif, Saudi Arabia during the year 2004. A prospective study was implemented for all cases admitted at Al-Hada Armed Forces Hospital during the period 1(st) January, 2004 till 31(st) December, 2004 and which developed infection. Determination of nosocomial infections was performed using standardized CDC criteria. A total of 1382 patients had developed infection during hospital admission and were included in the study. Of them, 668 (48.3%) had nosocomial infection and 714 (51.7%) had community-acquired infection. Among those who developed nosocomial infections, 216 (32.3%), 172 (25.7%) and 124 (18.6%) had respiratory tract (RTI), urinary tract (UTI) and blood stream infections (BSI) respectively. Surgical site infection (SSI) was reported in 86 cases (12.9%). The overall nosocomial infection rate along the study period was 4.98 per 100 discharged patients. Gram-positive organisms were reported in 31.8%. MRSA (Methicillin-resistant S. aureus) was the commonest (10.2%), followed by coagulase negative staphylococci (8.5%) and MSSA (Methicillin-susceptible S. aureus, 7.4%). While Gram-negative organisms were reported in 66.2%, E. coli was the commonest (22.3%), followed by Pseudomonas aeruginosa (17.6%) and Klebsiella pneumoniae (9.9%). Acinetobacter spp. and MRSA were highly sensitive to Imipenem (88.6%) and Vancomycin (98.5%) respectively. E. coli were highly sensitive to most of the antimicrobial agents except ampicillin (26.6%). CONCLUSIONS Pneumonia, urinary tract infections, and blood stream infections made up the great majority of nosocomial infections. There is a need for further risk assessment associated with main types of infection.