Analysis of pathogens of hospital-acquired infections in the pediatric department of intensive care

The problem of nosocomial infections and antibiotic resistance has acquired particular relevance and has medical, socio-economic importance. Aim - to investigate the microorganism spectrum and prevalence of nosocomial infections (NI) pathogens in the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) and to determine the association between NI and mortality in PICUs patients. Materials and methods. A retrospective analysis of 101 case histories of children aged (1 month - 18 years) of the PICU of hospital N from 2019 to 2021. Strains from various loci were studied (sputum, swabs from the throat and nose, blood, urine, feces, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), pleural fluid, central venous catheter (CVC), culture from a wound, navel, ear, secretions of scrotum) were studied. Microorganisms were identified by traditional methods on the basis of their morphologic, cultural, and biochemical properties. According to international diagnostic standards, 49 patients among 101 hospitalized ones were diagnosed with NI. The research results were statistically analyzed using the Microsoft Excel 2010 spreadsheet program and IBM SPSS Statistic version 22. Results. Ps. aeruginosa was identified significantly more often than Kl. pneumonia - 39.9% (n=153) of patients compared with 27.7% (n=106). Patients with NI are 1.6 times more likely to be infected with Ps. aeruginosa than Kl. pneumonia. Kl. pneumonia infection was significantly more frequent in patients than Candida alb. - 27.7% (n=106) compared with 13.6% (n=52). However, infection with Candida alb. was significantly more common than Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) - 13.6% (n=52) compared with 6.5% (n=25). Patients with NI are twice as likely to be infected with Candida alb. than MRSA. Fatal cases were found significantly more often in 18.4% (n=9) of patients with NI. Conclusions. Gram-negative microorganisms prevailed 26 times in the examined patients with HIV from different locales - 70.5% (n=270) of samples to gram-positive - 13.3% (n=53). The prevalence of Ps. aeruginosa, Kl. pneumonia and Candida alb. was significantly higher than in European countries The research was conducted in accordance with the principles of the Declaration of the Helsinki. The research protocol was approved by the ethics committee for all participants. Parents’ informed consent was obtained for the research. The authors declare no conflict of interest.