effect of nebulized eucalyptus on contamination of microbial plaque of endotracheal tube in ventilated patients

abstract background: formation of biofilm and bacterial colonization within the endotracheal tube (ett) are significant sources of airway contamination and play a role in the development of ventilator-associated pneumonia (vap). this study was conducted to examine the effect of nebulized eucalyptus (ne) on bacterial colonization of ett biofilm. materials and methods: we performed a randomized clinical trial in three intensive care units (icus) of an educational hospital. seventy intubated patients were selected and randomly divided into intervention (n = 35) and control (n = 35) groups. the intervention group received 4 ml (5%) of eucalyptus in 6 ml normal saline every 8 h. the placebo group received only 10 ml of normal saline in the same way. on extubation, the interior of the tube was immediately sampled using a sterile swab for standard microbiological analysis. chi-square and fisher’s exact tests were used for statistical analysis in spss. p values less than 0.05 were considered statistically significant. results: in both samples, klebsiella pneumoniae and acinetobacter baumannii were the most frequently isolated bacteria. in the control group, heavy colonization was greater than in the intervention group (p = 0.002). the frequency of isolation of k. pneumoniae in the intervention group was lower than in the control group (p < 0.001). however, there was no difference between the two groups in other isolated bacteria. conclusions: ne can reduce microbial contamination of the endotracheal tube biofilm in ventilated patients. moreover, k. pneumoniae was the most sensitive to ne.