Fig. 1

Flow chart of patients included in the study. a Data used to test the performances of rectal colonization surveillance to predict presence of HLAC-E, ESBL-E and 3GCR-E in respiratory samples. b Data used to test the potential impact of rectal colonization surveillance on empirical antimicrobial therapy of pulmonary infections. ^a Respiratory sample was defined as negative when less than 10³ colony-forming units (CFU)/mL were observed in protected distal sampling, 10⁴ CFU/mL in BAL, 10⁶ CFU/mL in endotracheal aspirates and 10⁷ CFU/mL in sputum cultures. ^b Patients without rectal swab culture available within 21 days before the respiratory sample were excluded. ^c CPE, carbapenemase-producing Enterobacterales. ^d AST: antimicrobial susceptibility testing