ORIGINAL ARTICLES   

Minerva Pneumologica 2006 June;45(2):105-9

Copyright © 2006 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

Microbiological investigations of bronchoalveolar lavage samples in patients from intensive therapy care

Lambiase A., Del Pezzo M., Rossano F.

Dipartimento di Biologia e Patologia Cellulare e Molecolare Luigi Califano Facoltà di Medicina e Chirurgia Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II, Napoli

Aim. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of Gram-negative and Gram-positive organisms isolated from bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) samples of patients in a Intensive Therapy Unit of a University Hospital in Southern Italy and to evaluate the spectrum of multidrug-resistance of these organisms.
Methods. Twenty-four patients attending this Unit were enrolled in this study over 2 years (from January 2003 to December 2004). Samples were processed for microscopic and culture tests. An automated system, Vitek (BioMérieux, France), for identification and chemosusceptibility tests was used.
Results. During the period of study, Pseudomonas aeruginosa was micro-organism most frequently isolated from BAL (42%); isolated of Staphylococcus aureus (17%) and Stenotrophomonas maltophilia (8.5%) were most frequent too. Beta-lactams were rarely effective for Gram-negative bacteria (60% of isolated of Pseudomonas aeruginosa and 66% of Stenotrophomonas maltophilia were resistant to ceftazidime); the aminoglycosides (with exception of amikacine) and quinolones were poorly actives. Beta-lactams and quinolones were not actives on Gram-positive bacteria.
Conclusion. These data might have important implications for establishing measures for controlling infections; continuous surveillance is required to prevent a possible spread of these serious resistances.