Bacteriological profile and antibiotic resistance: comparison of findings in a burn intensive care unit, other intensive care units, and the hospital services unit of a single center.

The purpose of the study was to define the bacteriological profile and antibiotic resistance patterns of a burn intensive care unit (ICU) and to compare them with the patterns from three other hospital areas in the same center (ie, cardiovascular-coronary ICU, a general ICU, and the hospital service unit). Bacterial isolates were collected prospectively from the burned patients and the patients from the other hospital areas between May 2001 and November 2003. In the burn ICU, Pseudomonas aeruginosa was the isolated pathogen most frequently (40.4%), followed by Staphylococcus aureus (29.3%) and Acinetobacter spp. (9.8%). S. aureus was the most common isolated pathogen in other hospital areas. The agents that were most effective against P. aeruginosa in the burn ICU were piperacillin/tazobactam and sulbactam/cefoperazon. We observed higher antimicrobial resistance in burn ICU than in the other hospital areas studied. In conclusion, bacteriological profile and antibiotic resistance patterns of patients in the burn ICU are significantly different from those in other ICUs and hospital units at our center. This knowledge is crucial for early treatment of infections in burned patients.