Antibiotic resistance is a growing problem in hospitals.
Intensive care units, with their extensive use of antibiotics in a confined area, are key locations for the emergence and spread of infections caused by antibiotic-resistant organisms. The new study examined the effect of rotating antibiotics on the incidence of ventilator-associated pneumonia and blood infections. Hospital-acquired pneumonia and blood infections are the leading causes of death from hospital infection in critically ill patients. When one type of antibiotic is used for long periods, the germs they are designed to kill can become resistant to the drug. Rotating antibiotics can help reduce the risk of resistance since each class of antibiotics attacks bacteria in a different way, and bacteria resistant to one type of drug may succumb to another type, explained Marin H. Kollef, M.D., lead author of the new study.