A Survey of Bacterial Infections in Bone Marrow Transplant Recipients

Abstract

Background: Bone marrow transplant (BMT) recipients are prone to bacterial, viral and fungal infections. Bacterial infec­tion is considered as one of the common and serious complications in bone marrow transplant recipients. The aim of this study was to determine the rate of bacterial infections in bone marrow transplant recipients.
Methods: Fifty-two blood and 25 catheter samples were obtained from 23 patients who were hospitalized in bone marrow trans­plantation unit in Shariati Hospital in Tehran. Bacterial strains were isolated and identified by the standard conven­tional bacteriological methods. Antimicrobial susceptibility was performed according to the guidelines from NCCLS using 18 different antibiotics.
Results:  The strains of Staphylococci, Streptococcus viridans, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Escherichia coli were isolated from 8(66.7%), 1(8.3%), 2 (16.7%) and the 1(8.3%) cases, respectively.
Conclusion: Current study indicated that the bacterial infections particularly those caused by the Gram-positive cocci were still as important problem in bone marrow transplant.