Evaluating the Antibiofilm Effects of Antibiotics on <i>Staphylococcus</i> Species from Pediatric Hematology–Oncology Patients

Biofilms are microbial communities and occur on different medical devices such as catheters. The formation of bacterial biofilms on medical devices leads to indwelling medical device-related infections. Since biofilm bacteria are more resistant to antibiotics than planktonic bacteria, using these antibiotics in indwelling medical device-related infections causes recurrence of infections, treatment failure, and death. Minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) is an important reference in treating acute infections caused by planktonic bacteria. However, MIC is ineffective in indwelling medical device-related infections caused by biofilm bacteria. The study aims to demonstrate the necessity and development of effective and standard methods such as minimum biofilm prevention concentration, minimum biofilm inhibitory concentration, and minimum biofilm eradication concentration in the case of indwelling medical device-related infection. The study was conducted with 10 isolates of <i>Staphylococcus</i> species from patients who developed infections in the Pediatric Hematology-Oncology Department at Medical Park Bahcelievler Hospital. According to the study results, even if planktonic bacteria are sensitive to antibiotics, they can become resistant to this antibiotic when they are in a biofilm (<i>p</i> < 0.05, Crosstab). Also, inhibiting the growth of planktonic bacteria does not prevent biofilm formation. The study additionally revealed that inhibiting and eradicating biofilm is more difficult than preventing biofilm formation (<i>p</i> < 0.05).