RESUMO
Objective: To determine the prevalence and antimicrobial resistance rates of nosocomial pathogens isolated from cancer patients and hospital environments. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted between December 2010 to May 2013 at Radiation and Isotopes Centre of Khartoum, Sudan. A total of 1. 503 samples (505 clinical and 998 environmental) were examined. Isolates were identified, and their antimicrobial susceptibility was determined using standard laboratory procedures. Results: Out of 505 clinical samples, nosocomial pathogens were found as 48.1%. Among hospital environment samples, bacterial contaminants were detected in 29.7% of samples. The main microorganisms recovered from cancer patients were Proteus spp. (23.5%), Escherichia coli (22.2%), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (P. aeruginosa) (21.0%) and Staphylococcus aureus (20.2%). The most frequent isolates from hospital environments were Bacillus spp. (50.0%), Staphylococcus aureus (14.2%) and P. aeruginosa (11.5%). The proportions of resistance among Gram-negative pathogens from cancer patients were high for ampicillin, cefotaxime, ceftazidime and ceftriaxone. Moderate resistance rates were recorded to ciprofloxacin, such as 51.0% for P. aeruginosa, 21.7% for Klebsiella pneumoniae and 55.5% for Escherichia coli. Except Klebsiella, there were no significant differences (P ≥ 0.05) of resistance rates between Gram-negative isolates from cancer patients to those from the hospital environments. The proportions of extended-spectrum β-lactamase producing isolates from cancer patients were not differ significantly (P = 0.763) from those collected from the hospital environments (49.2%; 91/185 vs. 47%; 32/68). Conclusions: The prevalence of nosocomial infection among cancer patients was high (48.1%) with the increasing of antimicrobial resistance rates. Hospital environments are potential reservoirs for nosocomial infections, which calls for intervention program to reduce environmental transmission of pathogens.