Detection of Bacterial Contamination and Antibiotic Resistance at Neonate Intensive Care Units in Ibn Al-Atheer Teaching Hospital for Children

Abstract:<br /> The study included the isolation and diagnosis of some gram positive and negative bacterial species from (NICU ) in Ibn Al-Atheer Teaching hospital for children from from August 2019 to February 2020 .A total of 90 swabs were obtained from various sites of Intensive Care Unit from Ibn Al-Atheer hospital environment and inoculated on culture media. The obtained growth revealed different bacterial colonies which had been tested for their morphological and biochemical characteristics. Eighty pure isolates were obtained including (76 ) Gram positive, and (4 ) Gram negative bacterial isolates. The highest rate of bacterial contamination had been found in the couh and incubator. The most prevalent bacteria isolated from inanimate surfaces were Staphylococcus aureus, Coagulase negative staphylococci, Bacillus, in addition to Diphtheroids, Lactobacillus, Streptococcus pneumoniae, Klebsiella pneumoniae, and E, coli.<br /> Antibiotic susceptibility testing for all isolates was performed using (8) types of commonly used antibiotics in Iraq. Taken all together, gram positive and negaive bacteria showed high resistance against streptomycin, erythromycin, and ampicillin respectively. Notably, resistance to ampicillin and gentamicin were demonstrated which are commonly given as the first line of treatment in NICUs.