Bacteriological profile and antibiogram of cancer patients admitted in intensive care unit of a tertiary care cancer hospital in central Kerala
Background: Opportunistic bacterial infections remain a serious morbidity among cancer patients. This study was aimed to determine the bacteriological and antibiotic profile of cancer patients admitted to the ICU of a tertiary care centre.Methods: Cross sectional study was done among cancer patients admitted in the Oncology neutropenic ICU during the period from August 2017 to July 2019. All patients admitted with a proven diagnosis of cancer for whom at least one bacterial culture was sent from any site were included in the study. Laboratory on culture reports were obtained from patient files and analysed.Results: A total of 278 samples from 256 patients (60±11.6 years) were analysed. Among the 111/278 positive cultures, 29 were blood samples and 1 was a pleural fluid sample. Gram negative organisms were 62.1% with Escherichia coli (25, 36.2%) as prevalent. Among the 37.8% gram positives, Staphylococcus aureus (18. 42.8%) was prevalent. Most of the E. coli strains showed highest resistance to ceftazidime (96%) and highest sensitivity to amikacin. The commonest gram-positive organism, Staphylococcus species were 100 % sensitive to vancomycin and linezolid and 100 % resistance to penicillin. Conclusions: E. coli (gram negative) showed highest resistance to ceftazidime and sensitivity to amikacin. S. aureus (gram positive) was sensitive to vancomycin and linezolid and resistance to penicillin. An antibiogram for cancer patients helps the clinician to initiate an appropriate empirical antibiotic therapy to reduce mortality and morbidity.