Abstract
A susceptibility surveillance study of 1,274 bacterial isolates recovered from various clinical specimens from patients in intensive care units (ICUs) of five major teaching hospitals was carried out from
March, 2000, to June, 2000, in Taiwan. This study demonstrated a high rate (66%) of oxacillin resistance in
Staphylococcus aureus
(ORSA), a high rate of nonsusceptibility to penicillin (intermediate,
50% and highly resistant, 8%), and high rates of cefotaxime nonsusceptibility for
S. pneumoniae
(intermediate, 29% and resistant, 4%),
Enterobacter cloacae
(57%),
Serratia marcescens
(34%), and
Citrobacter freundii
(60%). High rate of ceftazidime nonsusceptibility for
Pseudomonas aeruginosa
(22%), and high rates of imipenem nonsusceptibility for
P. aeruginosa
(15%)
and
Acinetobacter baumannii
(22%) were also found. The percentage (11.9%) of extended-spectrum
β
-lactamase (ESBL)-producing
Escherichia coli
was greater than that (11.3%) for
Klebsiella
pneumoniae
. Rates of quinupristin-dalfopristin nonsusceptibility for
S. pneumoniae
(42%),
Enterococcus faecium
(71%), and ORSA (39%) were high, but no vancomycin-resistant enterococci
were found in this study. The resistance rates of some pathogen varied by institution or type of ICUs. Surveillance for antimicrobial resistance among bacterial pathogens in hospitals, particularly in ICU
settings with a preexisting higher resistance burden, is mandatory in establishing and/or modifying guidelines for empirical treatment of severe infections in ICU patients caused by these antimicrobial-resistant
pathogens.