Prevalence of Antimicrobial Drug-resistant Bacteria in Intensive Care Unit Environment and Its Impact on Clinical Infections in Bangladesh.

Aims and background: The hospital environment, particularly the intensive care unit (ICU), constitutes a dynamic reservoir for drug-resistant bacteria that pose a significant threat to inpatients and staff. Monitoring these microorganisms are the principal strategy for controlling infection spreading and outbreaks. But, we know sparse about the ICU environment-bacteria in Bangladesh. We aimed for microbiological study of ICU environmental samples at Bangladesh Medical University (BMU, former BSMMU) in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Materials and methods: We bought 34 ICU environmental samples in Japan and cultured on ESBL-CHROMagar and VRE-CHROMagar media to isolate the drug-resistant bacteria. We also confirmed their susceptibility to antimicrobials using the BD Phoenix-100 system. Results: Forty-eight ESBL-bacteria and two VRE were isolated from 34 samples. Clinically relevant ESBL-bacteria were identified in almost all samples. Conclusion: The ICU environment in the BMU Hospital is highly contaminated with antimicrobial-resistant bacteria, which is a contributory route for the dissemination of resistance genes among bacterial communities in the hospital. Clinical significance: An understanding of environmental bacteria, their resistance patterns, and their clinical impact will necessarily guide to constitute an effective infection prevention and control guidelines for the hospital.