Prevalence of Nosocomial Bacterial Infections and their Patterns of Antibiotics Susceptibility among Hospitalized Patients: A Seven-Year Retrospective Study

Background: Nosocomial infection (NI) is a major public health challenge among patients having surgical sites infections (SSIs), blood stream infections (BSIs), and urinary tract infections (UTIs). These illnesses, if not perfectly treated, may cause a high rate of morbidity and mortality.
Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the profiles of resistance to antibiotics of pathogenic bacteria involved in nosocomial SSIs, UTIs, and BSIs.
Methods: This retrospective descriptive study involved hospitalized patients enrolled in hospitals at Mukalla city, Hadhramout, Yemen for 7-years period (2014-2020). Clinical samples of UTIs, SSIs and BSIs were collected. Bacterial isolates were identified by the standard procedures of sampling culture and biochemical methods. Standard disc diffusion (Kirby-Bauer) method was performed for antimicrobial susceptibility testing. The variables of sex, age, and type of infection were obtained from study population.
Results: Of 653 hospitalized patients, 326 (49.9%) tested positive for bacterial infection. Of these (58.0%) were UTIs, (29.1%) SSIs and (12.9%) BSIs. In terms of bacterial strains distribution, (47.9%) were Gram-positive, and (52.1%) were Gram-negative bacteria. The majority of bacterial isolated from UTIs were Escherichia coli (48.6%) followed by Staphylococcus aureus (21.6%), and the most bacterial isolated from BSIs were Staphylococcus aureus (50.0%) followed by Escherichia coli 19.0%. Moreover, Staphylococcus aureus (55.7%) and coagulase negative staphylococci (CoNS) (17.8%) were the most prevalent bacteria identified in SSIs. Bacterial isolated showed a significant of antibiotics resistance.
Conclusions: Treatment of bacterial NI must be verified by bacterial culturing and the antibiotics susceptibility to select the effective drug and prevent antibiotics resistance development.