Isolation, Identification, and Profile of Antibiotic Resistance of Bacteria in Patients with Cancer

Blood stream infection is one of the main causes of morbidity and mortality in patients with cancer. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of aerobic and anaerobic-bacteremia in hospital inpatients with cancer and to determine the antibiotic resistance profile in isolated organisms in Kerman, southeast Iran. Total of 240 blood cultures from 136 patients were examined. The blood cultures performed in BACTEC media and were assessed for four weeks in aerobic and anaerobic conditions. Identification of isolates and antibiotic susceptibility test were performed by standard methods. 24.6% of blood cultures were positive. The prevalence of polymicrobial bacteremia was 12%. Forty-three out of 65 isolated bacteria (66%) were gram positive and others (34%) were gram negative. Coagulase negative Staphylococci (21.5%), Propionibacterium spp (15.4%), Diphtheroid spp (12.3%), and Escherichia coli (12.2%) were the dominant isolated bacteria. All Staphylococci were methicillin resistant. The only isolated Pseudomonas putida and 37% of isolated Escherichia coli were multi-drug resistant. A number of Streptococci, Klebsiella, and Alcaligenes spp were also resistant in part to the antibiotics. Patients with cancer may be readily infected by many opportunistic pathogens including multi-drug resistant strains.