Antibiotic-Resistant, Hospital-Acquired Infections Rising in Children

Hospital-acquired, antibiotic-resistant

is on the rise among children across the United States, putting those with chronic conditions at higher risk of infection, according to a recent study.

Acinetobacter baumannii

Researchers examined data from The Surveillance Network Database to evaluate national and regional trends of antibiotic resistance in clinical specimens. Published in the

, the findings showed an increase in the amount of

samples in infected children who were resistant to the antibiotics cephalosporin and carbapenem between 1999 and 2012.

Journal of the Pediatric Infectious Diseases SocietyA. baumanni

The researchers used the data to phenotypically identify antibiotic resistance in

isolates in children 1 to 17 years old during the 13-year period. Isolates from infants were not included.

A. baumanni

Although the overall trend indicated a rise in resistance, the researchers did observe a slight decrease in resistance after 2008.

“While we are encouraged by the slight downward trend in resistance after 2008, there is still an overall increase in these infections,” Latania Logan, MD, chief of pediatric infectious diseases and associate professor of pediatrics at Rush University Medical Center, said in a press release about the study. “Further studies are needed to assess the most effective prevention strategies in children.”

The researchers suggested that the downward trend could be due to antibiotic stewardship guidelines released in 2007 or infection control guidance aimed at combatting multi-drug resistance in health care settings.

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