Abstract

Introduction: Incidence of multi-resistant bacteria is an indicator that permits better estimation of the magnitude of bacterial resistance in hospitals. Aim: To evaluate the incidence of relevant multi-drug resistant bacteria in intensive care units (ICUs) of Chile. Methods: Participating hospitals submitted information about the number of isolates from infected or colonized patients with 7 epidemiologically relevant multi-resistant bacteria in adult and pediatric ICUs between January 1, 2014 and October 31, 2015 and the number of bed days occupied in these units in the same period was requested. With these data incidence was calculated per 1,000 patient days for each unit. Results: Information from 20 adults and 9 pediatric ICUs was reviewed. In adult ICUs the bacteria with the highest incidence were K. pneumoniae ESBL [4.72 x 1,000 patient day (1.21-13.89)] and oxacillin-resistant S. aureus [3.85 (0.71-12.66)]. In the pediatric units the incidence was lower, highlighting K. pneumoniae ESBL [2.71 (0-7.11)] and carbapenem-resistant P aeruginosa [1.61 (0.31-9.25)]. Conclusion: Important differences between hospitals in the incidence of these bacteria were observed. Incidence of multi-resistant bacteria in adult ICU was significantly higher than in pediatric ICU for most of the studied bacterias.