Resistant Bacteria Blamed for High Hospital-Acquired Pneumonia Deaths

TUESDAY, Aug. 1 (HealthDay News) -- Patients with hospital-acquired pneumonia caused by a highly resistant bacteria are twice as likely to die as patients infected with other, less-resistant bacteria, a new Brazilian study says.

The study is the first to show that this form of bacteria, called metallo-beta-lactamase-producing Pseudomonas aeruginosa, which is highly resistant to virtually all antibiotics, is associated with a much higher death rate than other types of bacteria that cause hospital-acquired pneumonia, the authors said.

The higher death rate may be due to the use of inappropriate antimicrobial treatments for metallo-beta-lactamase-producing P. aeruginosa infections, the study authors wrote. They suggested that hospitals with high rates of infection with this bacteria should review their therapeutic approaches.

The study included 150 patients with hospital-acquired pneumonia at two hospitals in Porto Alegre, Brazil. Of those patients, 42 were infected with the resistant bacteria. The 30-day death rate for these patients was 57.1 percent, compared with 29.6 percent for patients infected with other strains of P. aeruginosa.

The researchers also found that only half the patients infected with the highly resistant bacteria were treated with appropriate antibiotics. However, the death rate among these patients was still high even when they received appropriate treatment. This suggests that the optimal treatment for this strain of bacteria has yet to be found, the study authors said.

The study was published in the July 31 issue of Critical Care.