antibiotic resistance pattern of pathogens isolated from clinical specimens of a hematology-oncology hospital, ahvaz, 2016-17

Background: resistance to antibiotics exists around the world. in patients with various types of cancer and also in patients undergoing bone marrow transplantation, infections and febrile neutropenia can be very dangerous.administration of intravenous ceftazidime alone or in combination with other antibiotics is one of the first empirical treatment regimens. the present study was carried out to determine the resistance pattern of various gram negative and gram positive microorganisms to different antibiotics of hematology-oncology (shafa) hospital in ahvaz. methods:this retrospective descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted for a period of one year including all referral clinical specimens from patients with malignancies to shafa hospital’s microbiology laboratory. isolated bacteria were tested for sensitive antibiotics used in clinics, especially ceftazidime, using a disc diffusion method. results: after reviewing the records of all patients with malignancies admitted to shafa hospital from july 2016 to july 2017, 310 patients had a recorded culture result (438 culturesintotal).thepatientswerebetween1-85yearsold(mean±sd:29.9±24.6years). 50.6% of the patients were male, mostly admitted to emergency pediatric hematology ward (25.8%). the most common type of malignancy was acute lymphoblastic leukemia (27.1%). pseudomonas aeruginosa was the most common isolated pathogen (34.1 %). only 63 positive cultures containing pseudomonas were tested for antimicrobial resistance, and among these cultures, 55.5% were resistant and 42.8% were sensitive to ceftazidime. among 9 isolated e.coli cultures, 66.6% were resistant and 33.3% were sensitive to ceftazidime. for acinetobacter and staphylococcus epidermidis species, only one positive culture (out of 33 and 34 respectively) was tested, and in both cases was resistant to ceftazidime. conclusion: pseudomonas was the most common pathogen among isolated pathogens and about 56% of positive cultures were resistant or had intermediate sensitivity. it seems that ceftazidime empiric therapy of infections in patients with malignancies at hematology-oncology hospital might face high resistance.