[Nosocomial infective agents in surgical intensive care unit. I. Occurrence and spreading of Gram-negative, obligate aerobic and facultative anaerobic rods (author's transl)].

In a surgical care unit samples were taken at 16 days in 3 day-intervals and the staff, the patients, their inanimate environment and the air investigated on the occurrence of gram-negative nosocomial infective agents (NIA). Samples taken from the staff only showed 1.3% positive NIA findings. Samples taken from the patient were NIA-positive in 27.7%. Samples taken from the inanimate environment were NIA-positive in 3.8%. In 6.9% of samples taken from the air gram-negative NIA were shown. With two examples the spreading of gram-negative NIA at the patient himself resp. also in his inanimate environment was shown. On base of resistance patterns a spreading from resp. through the staff or from one patient to the other was not definitely to be shown. Our results have shown that the NIA may be dissiminated by contact as well as by air-well-known with Staph. aureus but also with gram-negative rods.