Abstract: Objective To explore the current situation of antibiotic treatment of invasive Pseudomonas aeruginosa infection (IPAI) and the drug sensitivity test results of isolated strains. Methods The clinical data and the results of the drug sensitivity test of 61 invasive Pseudomonas aeruginosa (IPA) strains in 61 children with IPAI hospitalized from January 2014 to March 2019 were retrospectively analyzed. The clinical characteristics of 48 children with empirical anti-Pseudomonal aeruginosa treatment and 13 children with non-anti-Pseudomonal aeruginosa treatment were compared. Meanwhile, the clinical characteristics of 27 children with empirical carbapenem treatment and 19 children with non-carbapenems treatment were compared. Results Among 61 children with IPAI, 37 were boys and 24 were girls, with a median age of 2 . 1 ( 0 . 6 - 9 . 1 ) years. Twelve children ( 19 . 67%) died in hospital, and 15 children ( 24 . 59%) suffered from septic shock. The hospitalization days after infection in the non-anti-Pseudomonal aeruginosa treatment group was significantly longer than that in the antiPseudomonal aeruginosa treatment group (P= 0. 042 ), while there was no significant difference in pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) admission, hospital mortality and septic shock incidence (P> 0 . 05 ). The PICU admission, hospital mortality, septic shock incidence and length of hospital stay after infection was similar between empirical carbapenem treatment group and non-carbapenem treatment group (P>0 . 05 ). The sensitivity rate of 61 IPA strains to piperacillin-tazobactam, ceftazidime and cefepime was 85 %- 90 %, and the sensitivity rate to imipenem and meropenem was 90 %- 95 %. Conclusions IPA strains in Chongqing area were highly sensitive to commonly used antibacterial agents against Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Penicillins, cephalosporins or the β-lactamase inhibitor combinations can be used as the first choice for the empirical treatment of IPAI in children.

Key words: Pseudomonas aeruginosa; invasive Pseudomonas aeruginosa infection; antibiotics; child