Document Type : Original Article

Authors

• Dana Khdr Sabir ¹
• Fro Rzgar Khdr ²
• Pyman M. Mohamedsalih ³
• Chrpa Hogr Fuad ⁴
• Safeen Othman Mahmood ⁵

¹ Department of Medical Laboratory Sciences, Charmo University, 46023 Chamchamal, Sulaimani, Kurdistan Region, Iraq

² Medical Laboratory Science Department, Charmo University

³ Department of Medical Laboratory Sciences, College of Medical and Applied Sciences, Charmo University, Chamchamal, Kurdistan Region, Iraq

⁴ Department of Medical Laboratory Science, Komar University of Science and Technology, Sulaimani, Kurdistan Region, Iraq

⁵ College of Medicine, University of Sulaimani, Sulaimani, Kurdistan Region, Iraq Shar hospital, Sulaimani, Kurdistan Region, Iraq

Abstract

Ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) is a hospital acquired pneumonia that develops 48 hours after patient received mechanical ventilation using an endotracheal tube or tracheostomy. It is known as the second most common nosocomial infection in the intensive care unit (ICU) which occurs when the lower respiratory tract and lung parenchyma are invaded by microorganisms. Here, the incidence of VAP have been studied in the ICU of Shar Hospital in the city of Sulaymaniyah, Kurdistan Region of Iraq. From 31 August 2020 to 7 November 2020, the patients who were mechanically ventilated for more than 48 hours were monitored to find out the development of nosocomial pneumonia. Out of 52 patients, 30 (57.69%) cases were cultured positive for VAP, in which 14 (46.67%) were polymicrobial pneumonia and 16 cases (53.33%) were monomicrobial pneumonia. The common bacteria associated with nosocomial pneumonia were found to be Acinetobacter baumannii (31.3%), Staphylococcus aureus (27.2%), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (18.8%), and Escherichia coli (15.6%). Whereas, Candida species were the only recorded fungal isolate related to all 12% of fungal pneumonia infections in this study. The antibiotic sensitivity pattern shows that 17 (65.38%) of the isolate were resistant to trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole, however, gentamicin was appeared to be the most effective antibiotic. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to show the incidence of VAP among patients in Shar Hospital.

Keywords

• Ventilator-associated pneumonia
• Nosocomial infection
• Tracheostomy
• Prolonged mechanical ventilation
• Risk factors