Multi Drug Resistant Nosocomial Pathogens in Intensive Care Units of a Tertiary Care Hospital in Karachi

Abstract

Objective:  To evaluate occurrence of nosocomial infections and antibiotic susceptibility patterns of bacterial pathogens isolated from Intensive Care Units (IC-Us) in a tertiary care hospital of Karachi-Pakistan.Methods and Results:  One thousand and fifty clinical isolates were identified following standard proto-cols. Their antibiograms were evaluated and a clinical correlation was made to measure their pathogenic status and method of acquisition of infection. Fifty-six percent isolates were identified as Acinetobacter baumannii, 13.2% as Pseudomonas aeruginosa, 11.2% as Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), 8.8% as Klebsiella pneumoniae, 4.1% as Vancomycin resistant Enterococci (VRE), 2.7% as Escherichia coli (ESBL), 1.2% as Klebsiella spp, 1.1% as coagulase negative staphylococcus, 0.7% as Salmonella typhi and 0.2% as salmonella spp. All the isolates exhibited different resistance patterns against conventional antibiotics. Majority of them were Multi Drug Resistant (MDR).Conclusions:  In this study, Acinetobacter baumannii isolates revealed a pathogenic potential of around 56% were identified by antimicrobial susceptibility patterns. In our study, majority of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Vancomycin resistant Enterococci, E.coli, and Klebsiella spp were found to be multi drug resistant. High antimicrobial resistance in the ICU is an alarming situation, and calls for imperative measures leading to careful selection/use of antimicrobials while treating different infections. This study is expected to help infection control agencies to take robust steps to control nosocomial infections in developing countries.