Use of colistin for the treatment of multi drug resistant isolates in neonates

Objective: to determine the impact of using colistin for multidrug-resistant organisms in neonates. methods: this retrospective study was conducted at the shifa international hospital,islamabad,pakistan,and comprised microbiological data of babies from january 2010 to october 2012.the data was reviewed to identify the babies infected with multidrug-resistant organisms and who had received colistin therapy. spss 16 was used for data analysis. results: of the 30 neonates,24(80%) were males and 6(20%) were females. besides,16(53.3%) neonates were preterm babies (< 37 weeks gestation). two or more risk factors for multidrug-resistant organisms were present in 13(44%) babies. mechanical ventilation was found in 26(87%) neonates and prior prolonged use of antibiotics in 7(23%). the commonest pathogen isolated was acinetobacter,in 22(73%) cases. all isolates were susceptible to colistin but pan-resistant to multiple antibiotics,including cephalosporins,amikacin,meropenem and piperacillin/tazobactam. colistin therapy was used for bacteraemia in 2(7%) cases,clinical sepsis 18(60%),pneumonia 2(7%) and tracheitis 8(26.7%). moreover,15(50%) neonates received both intravenous and aerosolised colistin while 9(30%) received aerosolised therapy alone. conclusion: colistin therapy was well tolerated in neonates for the treatment of multidrug-resistant organisms. © 2017,pakistan medical association. all rights reserved.