An observational case study of hospital associated infections in a critical care unit in Astana, Kazakhstan

Abstract

Background: Hospital Associated infections (HAI) are very common in Intensive Care Units (ICU) and are usually associated with use of invasive devices in the patients. This study was conducted to determine the prevalence and etiological agents of HAI in a Surgical ICU in Kazakhstan, and to assess the impact of these infections on ICU stay and mortality. Objective: To assess the rate of device-associated infections and causative HAI etiological agents in an ICU at the National Research Center for Oncology and Transplantation (NRCOT) in Astana, Kazakhstan. Methods: This retrospective, observational study was conducted in a 12-bed ICU at the NRCOT, Astana, Kazakhstan. We enrolled all patients who were admitted to the ICU from January, 2014 through November 2015, aged 18 to 90 years of age who developed an HAI. Results: The most common type of HAI was surgical site infection (SSI), followed by ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP), catheter-related blood stream infection (BSI) and catheter-associated urinary tract infection (UTI). The most common HAI was SSI with Pseudomonas aeruginosa as the most common etiological agent. The second most common HAI was VAP also with P. aeruginosa followed by BSI which was also associated with P. aeruginosa (in 2014) and Enterococcus faecalis, and Klebsiella pneumoniae (in 2015) as the most common etiological agents causing these infections.