[Bacteriological surveillance in a burn intensive care unit and the analysis of bacterial resistance to antibiotics]

To investigate the dynamic changes of the bacterial flora in our burn intensive care unit (ICU) in the past 6 years, and to analyze resistance of bacteria to various antibiotics.

A retrospective analysis of bacterial culture and drug-sensitivity results from 209 patients in our burn intensive care unit during a period of 1998 to 2003 was carried out.

Eight hundred and forty-five strains of bacteria were isolated from 209 specimens, among which 486 strains were gram negative (G(-)) (57.51%), and 339 were gram positive (G(+)) (40.12%). Among all the G(+) bacteria, Enterococcus faecalis accounted for 34.51%, Staphylococcus aureus accounted for 31.27%, and 72.64% of Staphylococcus aureus strains were MRSA. Pseudomonas aeruginosa was predominant among all G(-) bacteria, and it accounted for 66.26% of the latter. All the bacteria isolated showed multiple resistance to antibiotics.

G(-) bacilli were still predominant in our burn intensive care unit. The isolated bacteria exhibited multiple resistance to antibiotics. The results imply that antibiotics should be administered rationally in the burn wards guided by the bacterial resistance test.