Bacteremias in patients with severe burn trauma.

UNLABELLED: The aim of the study was to investigate the causative agents of bacteremia in burned patients during 1999-2003.

MATERIAL AND

METHODS

All case records of 82 burned patients with bacteremia treated at the Department of Plastic Surgery and Burns of Kaunas University of Medicine Hospital were analyzed during 1999-2003.

RESULTS

Mean body surface area burned in bacteremic patients was 29%. Bacteremia was diagnosed, on an average, on the 15th day after hospitalization and the 16th day after the burn. The causative agent of bacteremia in 71% of cases was methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus; 11% of bacteremias were caused by Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and in 78% of cases Pseudomonas was sensitive to gentamicin. In all years, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus was the most common agent of bacteremia. Altogether, 55 patients out of 82 recovered. The mean duration of inpatient treatment was 48 days.

CONCLUSIONS

Bacteremia was diagnosed at the beginning of the third week of hospital stay. More than half of bacteremic patients (67%) survived. The most common causative agents of bacteriemia were methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and gentamicin-sensitive strains of Pseudomonas aeruginosa.