Guiding Antimicrobial Therapy using Gram Stain in Patients with Ventilator Associated Pneumonia- An Effective Preliminary Diagnostic Tool
Correspondence Address :
Dr. Sonal Saxena,
Director Professor and Head, Department of Microbiology, Maulana Azad Medical
College, New Delhi-110002, India.
E-mail: sonalsaxena3@gmail.com
Introduction: Empirical antimicrobial therapy is the mainstay of antimicrobial stewardship. The gram stain can be used to guide initial empiric antimicrobial therapy in cases where culture report is not available. This rapid test can therefore be helpful in preventing the initiation of inappropriate therapy and its adverse outcomes.
Aim: To determine the effectiveness of gram stain of tracheal aspirate samples in order to predict the causative microorganism and starting appropriate initial antimicrobial therapy.
Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was done for 208 tracheal aspirate samples that were sent to Department of Microbiology, Lady Hardinge Medical College, New Delhi, India, with a request for bacterial culture and Antibiotic Susceptibility Testing (AST) from January 2019 to June 2019. Each sample was inoculated on 5% Sheep blood agar, Chocolate agar and MacConkey agar followed by gram stain preparation and smears. The culture plates were checked after 24 hours for any bacterial growth and further identification was done by gram stain, motility and biochemical tests. The AST was performed as per Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) 2019 guidelines. All data entry was done on MS excel software and appropriate statistical tests were applied.
Results: Out of total 208 samples significant gram stain findings were seen in 90 cases (43.2%). Out of 208 samples 132 (63.5%) cases grew significant pathogens on culture. Out of these 90 cases, 68 (75.5%) of gram stain finding matched with culture results. The correlation between gram stain and culture was found to be 75.5%.
Conclusion: Gram stain is not only a quick and cost-effective method but also easily available in most laboratories and is highly reproducible. Gram stain, a rapid diagnostic tool, can thus be very useful in antimicrobial stewardship especially for the critically ill patients.
Antimicrobial resistance, Endotracheal aspirate, Point of care
10.7860/JCDR/2021/49782.15287
Date of Submission: Apr 06, 2021
Date of Peer Review: Apr 27, 2021
Date of Acceptance: May 21, 2021
Date of Publishing: Aug 01, 2021
AUTHOR DECLARATION:
• Financial or Other Competing Interests: None
• Was Ethics Committee Approval obtained for this study? No
• Was informed consent obtained from the subjects involved in the study? No
• For any images presented appropriate consent has been obtained from the subjects. No
PLAGIARISM CHECKING METHODS:
• Plagiarism X-checker: Apr 09, 2021
• Manual Googling: May 20, 2021
• iThenticate Software: Jul 30, 2021 (15%)
ETYMOLOGY: Author Origin
- Emerging Sources Citation Index (Web of Science, thomsonreuters)
- Index Copernicus ICV 2017: 134.54
- Academic Search Complete Database
- Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ)
- Embase
- EBSCOhost
- Google Scholar
- HINARI Access to Research in Health Programme
- Indian Science Abstracts (ISA)
- Journal seek Database
- Popline (reproductive health literature)
- www.omnimedicalsearch.com