To the Editor: We retrospectively reviewed the records of pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) from January 2019 through December 2022. Non-bronchoscopic bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluid cultures obtained in children who received mechanical ventilation for >48 h with persistent fever or new onset fever with; (i) New or progressive and persistent infiltrate, or consolidation, or cavitation on x-ray chest or (ii) Recent increase in ventilator settings, were included [
1]. Out of 1500 children, 200 were included; 138 children fulfilled criteria of ventilator associated pneumonia (VAP) and 62 had incomplete information. Ninety-two (66.6%) children were culture positive VAP and the incidence of VAP was 92/200 (46%). The organisms which grew were
Acinetobacter baumannii 61 (66.3%),
Pseudomonas aeruginosa 18 (19.5%),
Klebsiella pneumonia 10 (10.8%) and Methicillin Resistant
Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) 3 (3.2%) respectively. The yearly growth of
Acinetobacter baumannii was 30/41 (73.1%), 17/52 (32.6%) and 14/45 (31.1%) respectively. Polymyxin-B was sensitive against all gram negative bacilli and Vancomycin and Linezolid were sensitive against MRSA. Piperacillin-Tazobactum and Meropenem were 50% sensitive against gram negative organisms. …
