This study was done on 75 patients, suffering from lower respiratory tract infection (LRTI), at intensive care unit (ICU) of Benha University Hospitals. They were 41 (54.67%) males and 34 (45.33%) females. Their age ranged from 19 – 87 years (mean = 56.35 + 12.61 years). All the cases were subjected to complete history taking, thorough clinical examination, chest x ray, and total and differential leucocytic count. Morning sputum samples and endotracheal aspirates were used for bacteriological examination by the standard bacteriological methods. Indirect immunofluorescence test (pneumobact) was done on sera for atypical bacteria. Antibiogram was done for all bacterial isolates.
The results showed that out of 75 cases of LRTI 60 (80%) cases were diagnosed pneumonia and 15 (20%) cases were diagnosed chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and out of 60 cases of pneumonia 45 (75%) cases were diagnosed hospital acquired pneumonia (HAP) and 15 (25%) cases were diagnosed community acquired pneumonia (CAP). The result also revealed that the incidence of LRTI increases with age. Pneumonia is more common in females than males (53.3%) compared to (46.71%) but the difference is statistically insignificant (P > 0.05). COPD is higher in males than females (86.7% compared to 13.3%), a difference which is statistically significant(P < 0.05).
Our result also showed that Pseudomonas aeruginosa was the commonest organism isolated from patient with pneumonia 19 (31.7%) cases, but Streptococcus pneumoniae was the commonest in COPD, isolated from 4 (26.7%) cases.
The results of pneumobact test revealed Mycoplasma pneumoniae (M. pneumoniae) in 5 (6.7%) cases, and each of Legionella pneumophila and Chlamydia pneumoniae (C. pneumoniae) in 4 (5.3%) cases. Regarding the predisposing factors, the results showed that mechanical ventilation is the most important, 55 (73.33%) cases were mechanically ventilated, compared to 20 (26.67%) cases which were not mechanically ventillated, a difference which is statistically significant (P< 0.05).
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