Aysegul Karahasan

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Introduction and Objective: Microbiological surveillance guides the antibiotic therapy that plays an important role in maintaining the cystic fibrosis (CF) patients in stable clinical condition. Materials and Method: Respiratory samples (495 sputum, 711 deep pharyngeal swab) from 253 CF patients aged 0-43 were cultivated in conventional media and cumulative antibiogram was determined. A 24 questioned survey was applied to 119 patients for a 3 months period to measure demographic variabilities and knowledge about infection control. Results: The most common pathogen was Pseudomonas aeruginosa (45.7%), followed by Staphylococcus aureus (36%). P. aeruginosa was isolated from 60% of sputum samples and 28.5% of deep pharyngeal swab samples. High rate of resistance was detected to ceftazidime, amikacin and ciprofloxacin that are often preferred in treatment. Low monthly income, more than 9 visits to CF clinic in the last year, hospitalisation in the last year, spending more than 3 hours in CF clinic were significantly associated with P. aeruginosa colonisation. Health care providers was the main source of information (62.2% ).Vast majority of the patients (88.2%) knew that pathogens can be transmitted between the patients and infections could be reduced by using a mask, handwashing and by cleaning nebulizers as declared by 87.4% of participants clean the nebulizer after every usage and 93.3% of them dry it properly. Conclusion: Prevention of infections in CF patients is possible only if patients and their families are alert and have sufficient information about infection control that will provide great improvements in the prognosis. Key Words: P. aeruginosa, Cystic Fibrosis, Antibiotic Resistance, Infection control