Resistance of gram negative bacteria in hospital acquired pneumonia: a prospective study.

Hospital-acquired bacterial pneumonia (HABP) is one of the most important acute complications that affects patients admitted to intensive care units (ICU) developing mainly in patients receiving mechanical ventilation for more than 48 hours with an incidence of 9–27%.1,2 It is commonly caused by species of the Enterobacteriaceae family, non-fermentative Gram-negative bacilli, and Staphylococcus aureus.3,4 The awareness of the HABP and antimicrobial resistance patterns are necessary to improve hospital infection control system, selecting appropriate empirical antibiotics, reducing duration of ICU admission, decreasing costs of hospitalization, application of effective methods for preventing and controlling of HABP and finally to reduce the mortality and morbidity rates in these patients. A cross-sectional study designed from January 2013 till January 2014 included all 16 patients admitted to the ICU with HABP requiring mechanical ventilation for at least 48 hours in a general hospital in south of Iran were included. Samples were cultured on blood agar & EMB agar. Colony counts of more than 104 cfu/mL were considered positive.