Microbial Agents and Antimicrobial Resistance Patterns in Blood Cultures of Intensive Care Unit Patients: Pre- and Post-COVID-19 Pandemic Analysis

Objective: This study aimed to identify the microbial agents isolated from blood cultures of intensive care unit (ICU) patients and their antibiotic resistance rates before and after the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.Methods: Blood culture samples from general ICU-1 and ICU-2, collected between 2018-2022, were retrospectively analyzed. Results:Of the samples analyzed, 44.4% showed positive culture growth, 46.1% showed no growth, and 9.5% were determined to be skin contaminants.In both ICUs, coagulase-negative staphylococci were the most frequently isolated microorganisms, followed by Enterococcus species.Methicillin resistance in Staphylococcus aureus significantly decreased in ICU-1 after the pandemic but increased significantly in ICU-2.Resistance rates to vancomycin and teicoplanin in Enterococcus species significantly increased during the pandemic in both ICUs.No colistin resistance was detected in Escherichia coli, but colistin resistance rates significantly increased in other Gram-negative isolates during the pandemic, except for Pseudomonas aeruginosa in ICU-1.After the pandemic, Klebsiella pneumoniae in ICU-1 and Acinetobacter baumannii in ICU-2 showed the highest colistin resistance rates.Ama: Bu almada Koronavirs Hastal 2019 (COVID-19) pandemisi ncesi ve sonras youn bakm nitesinde (YB) yatan hastalara ait kan kltrlerinde reyen etkenleri ve antibiyotik diren oranlarn tespit etmeyi amaladk.Yntemler: 2018-2022 tarihleri arasnda genel (YB-1) ve 2 (YB-2)'de yatan hastalara ait kan kltr rnekleri retrospektif olarak deerlendirildi.Bulgular: Kan kltr rneklerinin %44,4'nde reme saptanrken %46,1'inde reme olmad, %9,5'inin cilt flora bakterileriyle kontamine olduu saptanmtr.Her iki youn bakmda da en sk Koaglaz negatif stafilokoklarn izole edildii, bunu Enterokok trlerinin takip ettii grlmtr.Metisilin direnci Staphylococcus aureus'da genel YB-1'de pandemi ncesine gre anlaml ekilde azalrken genel YB-2'de anlaml ekilde artmtr.Enterococcus spp.izolatlarnda vankomisin ve teikoplanin diren oranlar her iki youn bakmda da COVID-19 pandemisiyle birlikte istatistiksel olarak anlaml art gstermitir.Escherichia coli izolatlarnda kolistin direnci saptanmam, pandemiyle beraber kolistin diren oranlarnn genel YB-1'den izole edilen Pseudomonas aeruginosa trleri hari dier gram negatif izolatlarda anlaml oranda artt; pandemi sonras genel YB-1'den izole edilen Klebsiella pneumoniae, genel YB-