Pattern of Bacterial and Fungal Infections in Neutropenic Pediatric Patients

Backgrounds: neutropenia ca n be associated with lifethreatening infections. gram negative and staphylococcal infectionsare the most common pathoge ns. the spectrum ofbacterial isolates has changed co nsiderably over the past fourdecades, the objective of the prese nt study was to evaluate thepattern of bacterial and funga l infections in neutropenic pediatric patients.methods: a non-randomized descriptive and cross-sectionalstudy invo lving 100 hospit al ized children was carried out atthe emerge ncy and pediatric hematology and oncology unitsof hospitals affi liated to mashhad university of med ical sciencesfrom september 2004 to september 2005 , neutropenicchildren younger than 12 years o ld with clini cal sig ns of infectionand/or feve r were enro lled in the study.results: the study co mprised of 100 febrile and/or infectedneutropenic episo des occ urring in 57 male and 43 female childrenyounger than 12 years old with a mean age of 4.55±3.33years. a total of 87 pathogens were cultured: 37 (42.5%) fromurinary tract and 50 (57.5%) from other sites; 54 (62. 1%) weregram-negative bacteria, 2 1 (24 .1%) were gram -pos itive bacteria,and 12 ( 13 .8%) were fungus. pseudomonas aerugi nosaand staphylococc us aureus were the most frequent gramnegative and gram-positive isolates respect ively. candida sp p.was the only isolated fungus. acute lymph oblastic leukemiawas the most common disease encompass ing 33% of all cases.conclusion : as the pattern s of isolates in neutropen ic patientsare not the same in different parts of the world and gramnegativeorganisms were still the most common pathogensisolated in our study populat ion, thera peutic adj ustments forempirica l antib iotic therapy are likely to be focused on gramnegative pathogens.