TY - JOUR AU - Hsueh, Po-Ren AU - Chen, Mei-Ling AU - Sun, Chun-Chuan AU - Chen, Wen-Hwei AU - Pan, Hui-Ju AU - Yang, Li-Seh AU - Chang, Shan-Chwen AU - Ho, Shen-Wu AU - Lee, Chin-Yu AU - Hsieh, Wei-Chuan AU - Luh, Kwen-Tay T1 - Antimicrobial Drug Resistance in Pathogens Causing Nosocomial Infections at a University Hospital in Taiwan, 1981-1999 T2 - Emerging Infectious Disease journal PY - 2002 VL - 8 IS - 1 SP - 63 SN - 1080-6059 AB - To determine the distribution and antimicrobial drug resistance in bacterial pathogens causing nosocomial infections, surveillance data on nosocomial infections documented from 1981 to 1999 at National Taiwan University Hospital were analyzed. During this period, 35,580 bacterial pathogens causing nosocomial infections were identified. Candida species increased considerably, ranking first by 1999 in the incidence of pathogens causing all nosocomial infections, followed by Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Candida species also increased in importance as bloodstream infection isolates, from 1.0% in 1981-1986 to 16.2% in 1999. The most frequent isolates from urinary tract infections were Candida species (23.6%), followed by Escherichia coli (18.6%) and P. aeruginosa (11.0%). P. aeruginosa remained the most frequent isolates for respiratory tract and surgical site infections in the past 13 years. A remarkable increase in incidence was found in methicillin-resistant S. aureus (from 4.3% in 1981-1986 to 58.9% in 1993-1998), cefotaxime-resistant E. coli (from 0% in 1981-1986 to 6.1% in 1993-1998), and cefotaxime-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae (from 4.0% in 1981-1986 to 25.8% in 1993-1998). Etiologic shifts in nosocomial infections and an upsurge of antimicrobial resistance among these pathogens, particularly those isolated from intensive care units, are impressive and alarming. KW - nosocomial infections KW - antimicrobial resistance KW - Taiwan KW - bacterial pathogens KW - hospital-based surveillance DO - 10.3201/eid0801.000454 UR - https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/8/1/00-0454_article ER - End of Reference