M. Yucesoy et al., Antimicrobial resistance of gram-negative isolates from intensive care units in Turkey: Comparison to previous three years (vol 12, pg 294, 2000), J CHEMOTHER, 12(6), 2000, pp. 540-540
Resistance rates to selected antibiotics of Gram-negative bacteria isolated
from intensive care units (ICU) of 16 Turkish hospitals during 1998 were e
valuated and compared to data from the previous 3 years. Antibiotic suscept
ibilities to imipenem, ceftazidime, ceftazidime-clavulanate, cefoperazone-s
ulbactam, ceftriaxone, cefepime, cefodizime, cefuroxime, piperacillin-tazob
actam, ticarcillin-clavulanate, gentamicin, amikacin and ciprofloxacin were
determined by Etest, A total of 1,404 isolates from 1,060 patients were co
llected, mainly from urinary and respiratory tracts. As in the previous 3 y
ears, Pseudomonas spp, was the most frequently isolated Gram-negative speci
es (29.7%), followed by Escherichia coli, Acinetobacter and Klebsiella spp,
Imipenem was the most active in vitro agent (73.4% susceptible), followed
by ciprofloxacin (60.6%), cefoperazone-sulbactam (58.7%), cefepime (56.7%),
piperacillin-tazobactam (55.0%) and amikacin (54.7%), In 1996, a decline i
n susceptibility rates of all antibiotics was evident. With the exception o
f imipenem, resistance to which remained stable, rates somewhat increased i
n 1997. In 1998, susceptibility to imipenem and cefepime remained stable, a
mikacin resistance tended to increase and susceptibility rates to other ant
ibacterials showed a favorable increase. These results may in part be due t
o the implementation of a surveillance program and increased understanding
of the magnitude of the resistance problem.