The Issue of antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections in intensive care units (ICUs) – epidemiology, risk factors and prevention. Literature review.

Abstract Infections caused by antibiotic-resistant pathogens in intensive care units (ICUs) present significant challenges for modern medicine. ICU patients are particularly vulnerable to HAI due to: severe conditions, frequent invasive procedures and extensive antibiotic use. It is estimated that about 9-20% of patients in intensive care units are affected by healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) and half of all hospital-acquired infections occur in the ICU. The antibiotic resistance is becoming a widespread issue. The incidence of HAIs caused by multi-dtug pathogens, especially Gram-negative bacteria, is dramatically rising. Uderstanding risk factors, epidemiology, routes of transmission, preventive measures may form the basis for limiting the spread of health-associated infections (HAI) caused by multidrug-resistance pathogens. Effective prevention measures comprise proper antibiotic management, personnel control and elimination of risk factors. Additional strategies like selective digestive decontamination (SDD), pathogen screening and isolation of infected patients may be considered to the successful control of outbreaks. Further studies are needed to better understand the transmission, epidemiology and prevention of multidrug-resistance infections. This review summarizes current knowledge on antibiotic resistance, risk factors, epidemiology and prevention methods of healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) in ICUs.