PREVALENCE AND ANTIBIOTIC-SENSITIVITY OF DANISH VERSUS OTHER EUROPEANBACTERIAL ISOLATES FROM INTENSIVE-CARE AND HEMATOLOGY-ONCOLOGY UNITS

The prevalence and antibiotic sensitivity patterns of bacteria collect ed consecutively from medical and surgical intensive care units (ICUs) and from hematology/oncology units in nine hospitals in Denmark were determined and compared to data collected simultaneously in 12 other E uropean countries. Bacterial isolates from 794 Danish patients were te sted and compared to 8,625 isolates from European patients. The minima l inhibitory concentrations of eight different antibiotics were determ ined using a microdilution plate. Similar to findings in European coun tries, the most common source of bacterial isolates in Danish units wa s the respiratory tract (49 %), followed by blood (18 %), urinary trac t (14 %) and surgical wounds (10 %). Staphylococcus aureus was the mos t prevalent respiratory organism in Danish units, whereas Enterobacter iaceae and Pseudomonas aeruginosa dominated in other countries. In blo od, Escherichia coli was most prevalent in Denmark while coagulase-neg ative staphylococci were predominant in other countries. Urinary tract isolates were dominated by Escherichia coli in both Denmark and the o ther countries, but Enterococcus faecalis and Pseudomonas aeruginosa w ere more frequently isolated in the other countries. Staphylococcus au reus was the most frequent wound isolate in Denmark, while Enterobacte riaceae other than Escherichia coli dominated in other European countr ies. Thus, in Denmark Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus, foll owed by Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Klebsiella spp. (from ICUs) or Ente rococcus spp. and Klebsiella spp. (from hematology/oncology units), ar e the most prominent pathogens in these units today. Indicator organis ms of antibiotic consumption (Pseudomonas aeruginosa and methicillin-r esistant coagulase-negative staphylococci and Staphylococcus aureus) w ere more frequent in other European countries than Denmark. In general , the Danish isolates were more sensitive to antibiotics than the Euro pean isolates. Thus, the sensitivity of all organisms to third-generat ion cephalosporins was about 10 % higher in Denmark as compared to Eur ope, and for many frequent pathogens, the sensitivity matched the four th-generation cephalosporin, cefpirome. A lower total antibiotic consu mption and the infrequent use of broad-spectrum cephalosporins in Denm ark may contribute to these differences.