Nosocomial infections and resistance pattern of common bacterial isolates in an intensive care unit of a tertiary hospital in Nigeria: A 4-year review

IntroductionInfection is a major determinant of clinical outcome among patients in the intensive care unit. However, these data are lacking in most developing countries; hence, we set out to describe the profile of nosocomial infection in one of the major tertiary hospitals in northern Nigeria.MethodCase records of patients who were admitted into the intensive care unit over a 4-year period were retrospectively reviewed. A preformed questionnaire was administered, and data on clinical and microbiological profile of patients with documented infection were obtained.ResultsEighty-our episodes of nosocomial infections were identified in 76 patients. Road traffic accident (29/76, 38.2%) was the leading cause of admission. The most common infections were skin and soft tissue infections (30/84, 35.7%) followed by urinary tract infection (23/84, 27.4%). The most frequent isolates were Staphylococcus aureus (35/84, 41.7%), Klebsiella pneumoniae (18/84, 21.4%), and Escherichia coli (13/84, 15.5%). High rate of resistance to cloxacillin (19/35, 54.3%) and cotrimoxazole (17/26, 65.4%) was noted among the S aureus isolates. All the Enterobacteriaceae isolates were susceptible to meropenem, whereas resistance rate to ceftriaxone was high (E coli, 55.6%; K pneumoniae, 71.4%; Proteus spp, 50%).ConclusionInfection control practice and measures to curtail the emergence of antimicrobial resistance need to be improved.