Bacterial etiology and antibiotic susceptibility pattern of ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) in burn patients

This research aimed to identify the spectrum of microbial pathogens associated with VAP and the drug resistance patterns at an intensive care unit (ICU) burn center in Iran. We conducted this single-center, retrospective, cross-sectional descriptive study on all burn patients with VAP who were treated in the ICU at Velayat Burn Injuries Hospital in Rasht, northern Iran. In this study, 29 samples were obtained from burn patients, of which P. aeruginosa accounted for 48.3%, Klebsiella for 17.2%, E. coli for 10.3%, coagulase-negative Staphylococci for 6.9%, and unknown pathogens for 17.2% of the bacterial cultures. All the E. coli isolates and most of the Klebsiella isolates (80%) were obtained in the first two days of hospitalization. P. aeruginosa was mainly isolated during the first 2 days of hospitalization (71.4%). The mortality rate was 75.9%, while 24.1% of the patients were discharged. Antibiotic susceptibility patterns of Gram-negative bacteria revealed that Enterobacter and P. aeruginosa were predominantly susceptible to aminoglycosides, with Amikacin exhibiting the highest effective rates of 40% and 66.7%, respectively. A guideline-based approach using the local ICU antibiogram can decrease the likelihood of Multidrug-resistant (MDR) strain occurrence.