Etiology and incidence of infection in Mechanically Ventilated Medical Intensive Care Unit Patients in a Tertiary Care Hospital

ABSTRACT

Introduction@#Intensive care unit (ICU) patients are at the greatest risk of acquiring nosocomial infections, partly because of their serious underlying disease, but also by exposure to life-saving invasive procedures. Hospital-acquired infections increase patient morbidity, increase the length of hospital stay and hospital costs, and also increases mortality rate. The basic knowledge of organisms infecting ICU patients is very important to empirically select appropriate antibiotics, so that the most likely infecting organisms are addressed.@*Objective@#The aim of the study was to find out the etiologic agents causing infection in medical intensive care unit patients.@*Results@#In our study of 289 patients, 180 (62.3%) showed a growth of organism during the stay in ICU. The most common site of infection was the respiratory tract in 138 patients (47.8%) with 60 patients (20.8%) showing Acinetobacter baumannii.