Antimicrobial resistance of eskape pathogens in major burns patients-one-year retrospective study

Infections in patients with major burns are among the most frequent causes of complications and an increase in mortality. In particular, a group of bacteria abbreviated ESKAPE, consisting of Enterococcus faecium, Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Acinetobacter baumannii, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Enterobacter species, has increasingly become problematic in recent times due to their fast capacity to develop antibiotic resistance. The aim of this study was to analyse ESKAPE pathogens from the Major Burn Units in Clinical Emergency Hospital Bucharest through a retrospective crosssectional study, given the high mortality rate of these patients. Our findings revealed that a large percentage (75%) of patients presented with an ESKAPE pathogen during either direct admission or transfer from another healthcare unit; however, this did not influence mortality. The most frequent isolate was Staphylococcus aureus; however, Acinetobacter baumannii had the highest tendency to develop multidrug or extensive-drug resistance. In particular, ESKAPE bacteria tended to exhibit higher antibiotic resistance properties, as there were more ESKAPE MDR and XDR variants than non-ESKAPE strains.