Abstract:

Objective: Hospitals are a potential source of infection risk during healthcare delivery. Since vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) and carbapenemase producing Gram-negative rods cause persistent colonization and multi-drug resistant bacterial infections, they are important in nosocomial infections. In this study, we aimed to retrospectively evaluate rectal swab samples of patients hospitalized in the clinics in terms of VRE and carbapenem- resistant (CR) Gram-negative rods as nosocomial infection agents between 1st January 2020 and 31st December 2020. Materials and Methods: Standard clinical laboratory methods were used to isolate and identify CR Gram-negative rods and VRE from rectal swab samples of hospitalized patients sent to our Hospital Infection Research Laboratory. Results: There was growth in 777 (28.9%) of 2688 samples examined. Of the bacteria that grew, 627 (80.7%) were defined as VRE, and 150 (19.3%) as Gram-negative rods resistant to carbapenem. Seventy-five of these were defined as CR K. pneumoniae: 7 as CR K. oxytoca: 26 as CR Enterobacter species: 2 as CR E. coli: and 40 as CR Acinetobacter species. Vancomycin-resistant enterococci were detected most frequently in the internal medicine ward (56.3% - 353/627) and pediatric intensive care-neonatal ward (37.6% - 236/627). In pediatric services, 146 of total 296 bacteria isolated were identified as VRE. Conclusion: With the surveillance studies carried out in the control of hospital infections, each health institution determines the microorganisms that make up its own hospital flora, their resistance status and their distribution. It is thought that the data we obtain will contribute to the infection control processes of the hospitals.

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