Palestinian Medical and Pharmaceutical Journal (Pal. Med. Pharm. J.)

Article info

Keywords

• levofloxacin
• Ventilator-associated pneumonia
• Stenotrophomonas maltophilia (SM)

Abstract

Stenotrophomonas maltophilia, a gram-negative nonfermenter, is ubiquitous in the envi-ronment and has the propensity to colonize devices and even the respiratory tract. The organ-ism shows intrinsic resistance to multiple drugs commonly used in hospitals, like cephalo-sporins, carbapenems, and aminoglycosides, thus selecting this organism from endogenous patient flora. Here we conducted a retrospective study presented as a case series to share our experience in our setup. We encountered 9 cases during 1 year, most sensitive to levofloxa-cin and minocycline. All the cases apart from two were discharged successfully following the appropriate regimen. The mean age of patients was 50 years, and most patients had a history of long-standing diabetes. Most of the cases were admitted to ICU and were on ventilators. The organism commonly causes ventilator-associated pneumonia in our series. Our area lacks studies on this organism, which is rising in prevalence. Thus, further large-scale studies are needed to ponder this infection's prevalence and increasing resistance of this organism to TMP/SMX (Cotrimoxazole), the drug of choice in this infection.

معلومات المقال

الكلمات الإفتتاحية

• levofloxacin
• Ventilator-associated pneumonia
• Stenotrophomonas maltophilia (SM)

الملخص

Stenotrophomonas maltophilia, a gram-negative nonfermenter, is ubiquitous in the envi-ronment and has the propensity to colonize devices and even the respiratory tract. The organ-ism shows intrinsic resistance to multiple drugs commonly used in hospitals, like cephalo-sporins, carbapenems, and aminoglycosides, thus selecting this organism from endogenous patient flora. Here we conducted a retrospective study presented as a case series to share our experience in our setup. We encountered 9 cases during 1 year, most sensitive to levofloxa-cin and minocycline. All the cases apart from two were discharged successfully following the appropriate regimen. The mean age of patients was 50 years, and most patients had a history of long-standing diabetes. Most of the cases were admitted to ICU and were on ventilators. The organism commonly causes ventilator-associated pneumonia in our series. Our area lacks studies on this organism, which is rising in prevalence. Thus, further large-scale studies are needed to ponder this infection's prevalence and increasing resistance of this organism to TMP/SMX (Cotrimoxazole), the drug of choice in this infection.