Introduction:

Infections play an important role in the morbidity and mortality associated with burns. Experience in pediatric patients is scarce.

Objective:

To evaluate clinical and microbiological aspects of nosocomial infection in children burned in the National Center for Burns and Reconstructive Surgeries.

Material and Methods:

A descriptive, observational, retrospective and cross-sectional study. All burned children admitted to the Pediatric Service of the National Center for Burns and Reconstructive Surgery (CENQUER) from January 2017 to January 2018 were included.

Results:

The total number of patients was 220, of which 161 (73%) were breastfeeding, 24 (11%) pre-school, 17 (8%) schoolchildren, 13 (6%) adolescents and 5 (2%) newborns. The percentage of burned body surface area ranged from 1 to 95% (median 27%). The type of burn was A (superficial) in 78 (36%), patients, AB (intermediate) in 38 (17%) and B (deep) in 104 (47%). One hundred and eighty children (82%) had venous catheter, 166 (75.5%) arterial catheter and 172 (78%); bladder catheter in 150 patients (68%) mechanical ventilation was required. In 128(58%) patients infections were documented. The most frequent focus was sepsis related to the burn. Gram-negative bacteria Pseudomonas aeruginosa and multiresistant Acinetobacter spp were the most frequently isolated germs. 186(85%) patients were discharged and 34 (15%) died. In 28 (82%) of them, the cause of death was related to the infection. The duration of the hospitalization had a median of 37 days.

Conclusions:

Infections in burned children are an important cause of morbidity and mortality and multidrug resistant gram negative bacteria play an important role in them. Mortality was related to infection.

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