The frequency and antimicrobial resistance patterns of nosocomial pathogens recovered from cancer patients and hospital environments

Objective:To determine the prevalence and antimicrobial resistance rates of nosocomial pathogens isolated from cancer patients and hospital environments.Methods:A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted between December 2010 to May 2013 at Radiation and Isotopes Centre of Khartoum,Sudan.A total of 1 503 samples(505 clinical and 998 environmental)were examined.Isolates were identified,and their antimicrobial susceptibility was determined using standard laboratory procedures.Results:Out of 505 clinical samples,nosocomial pathogens were found as 48.1%.Among hospital environment samples,bacterial contaminants were detected in 29.7%of samples.The main microorganisms recovered from cancer patients were Proteus spp.(23.5%),Escherichia coli(22.2%),Pseudomonas aeruginosa(P.aeruginosa)(21.0%)and Staphylococcus aureus(20.2%).The most frequent isolates from hospital environments were Bacillus spp.(50.0%),Staphylococcus aureus(14.2%)and P.aeruginosa(11.5%).The proportions of resistance among Gram-negative pathogens from cancer patients were high for ampicillin,cefotaxime,ceftazidime and ceftriaxone.Moderate resistance rates were recorded to ciprofloxacin,such as 51.0%for P.aeruginosa,21.7%for Klebsiella pneumoniae and 55.5%for Escherichia coli.Except Klebsiella,there were no significant differences(P0.05)of resistance rates between Gram-negative isolates from cancer patients to those from the hospital environments.The proportions of extended-spectrum b-lactamase producing isolates from cancer patients were not differ significantly(P=0.763)from those collected from the hospital environments(49.2%;91/185 vs.47%;32/68).Conclusions:The prevalence of nosocomial infection among cancer patients was high(48.1%)with the increasing of antimicrobial resistance rates.Hospital environments are potential reservoirs for nosocomial infections,which calls for intervention program to reduce environmental transmission of pathogens.