Antibiograms of Intensive Care Units at an Egyptian Tertiary Care Hospital

Hospital Acquired Infections (HAIs) surveillance at the local and national levels is an essential component of its control and prevention. The highest prevalence of HAIs is in Intensive care units (ICUs) and it is associated with considerable negative impact on the patients' outcome with a marked increase in the treatment costs. Therefore, early appropriate antibiotic therapy is a fundamental part of the treatment of these patients and it can be lifesaving. However, bacteria are becoming more resistant with alarming rates of antibiotic resistance worldwide.

Antibiotic resistance is part of a broader threat called antimicrobial resistance (AMR) that includes resistance to medicines used to treat all types of infections, including those caused by bacteria, parasites, and fungi. ICUs are considered the epicenter of AMR development due to the severity of critical illness, patients are at high risk of becoming infected through the use of invasive devices (e.g. endotracheal tubes, vascular and urinary catheters), and the extensive antibiotic use with variable infection control practices. Consequently, management of infections in ICU is a growing challenge and ICU physicians should have regularly updated antibiograms in order to guide appropriate decisions about the choice of empirical antibiotics when waiting for culture results Antibiograms are reports that summarize the information of bacterial antibiotic susceptibility rates within a single facility over the duration of one calendar year. They are used in tracking bacterial resistance and guiding empirical antibiotics prescription within the facility.

With the high burden of AMR and the ample variety between ICUs in the prevalence of micro-organisms and their antibiotic susceptibility, it is crucial that the selection of empirical antibiotic therapy should be guided by ICU-specific antibiogram. Also, the emerging trends in bacterial resistance at the local level should be monitored regularly.

The aim of this study is to find out the prevalence and types of pathogens and to determine their antibiotic susceptibility and resistance in different ICUs of an Egyptian tertiary care hospital (Zagazig University Hospitals).