Antimicrobial resistance profile of bacterial isolates from Intensive Care Unit: changing trends.

The incidence of antimicrobial resistance has increased over the years resulting in limitation of therapeutic options. Strategies such as appropriate infection control measures and surveillance of resistance pattern are necessary to address the problem of resistance. Knowledge of the pattern of resistance in Intensive Care Units (ICUs) can help to determine antibiotic prescribing policy. A retrospective study has been carried out to determine the bacterial spectrum and the antibiotic resistance pattern of clinical isolates collected from patients admitted to the ICU. The data was compared with a similar study conducted during 1996-97. Amongst the gram-positive organisms Staphylococcus aureus (23%) was the predominant isolate, while Pseudomonas (23%), Acinetobacter (20.8%), Citrobacter (11.7%) accounted for the majority of the gram-negative organisms. Both gram positive and gram-negative organisms exhibited high resistance to most antimicrobial agents used for testing susceptibility. The frequency of resistance has markedly increased as compared to the previous study.