Author(s)

Hadir A. El-Mahallawy¹, Rasha M. Abdel Hamid¹, Safaa Shawky Hassan^1*, Samah Radwan¹, Magdy Saber²

¹Clinical Pathology Department, National Cancer Institute, Cairo University, Giza, Egypt.
²Medical Oncology Department, National Cancer Institute, Cairo University, Giza, Egypt.

Background and Aim: Multi drug resistant Non fermenting gram negative bacilli (NFGNB) have emerged as a major cause of health-care associated infections especially in immunocompromised hosts. The aim of the study was to investigate the prevalence of NFGNB as a cause of health-care associated infections (HAI) in cancer patients and determine their resistance pattern. Patients and Methods: During the study period, 158 NFGNB isolates were collected. Microscan Walk Away 9 was used for identification and testing for the metallo-β-lactamases (MBLs) was done by Imipenem-EDTA combined disk synergy test (CDST-IPM). Results: NFGNB represented 29.0% of infections caused by gram negative organisms. Carbapenem resistance, the multi-drug resistant (MDR) phenotype, and MBL production were documented in 70%, 63%, and 59% of NFGNB isolates, respectively. MDR-NFGNB rates were significantly higher among hospitalized patients, medical department and those with longer duration of hospital stay (p = 0.034, 0.026, 0.019; respectively) than non MDR-NFGNB. Conclusion: A high level of carbapenem and multi-drug resistance were detected among the non-fermenter pathogens isolated from hospitalized cases and were more frequently encountered in high risk adult cancer patients requiring longer duration of hospitalization. The MDR-NFGNB are constituting important causes of health-care associated infections in cancer patients.

Multi Drug Resistant Organisms (MDRO), Non-Fermenting Gram Negative Bacilli (NF-GNB), Metallo-β-Lactamases (MBL), Surgical Site Infections (SSI)

El-Mahallawy, H. , Hamid, R. , Hassan, S. , Radwan, S. and Saber, M. (2015) The Increased Frequency of Carbapenem Resistant Non Fermenting Gram Negative Pathogens as Causes of Health Care Associated Infections in Adult Cancer Patients. Journal of Cancer Therapy, 6, 881-888. doi: 10.4236/jct.2015.610096.