Health care-associated infections due to resistant Enterobacter and Enterococcus in Hispanic America 2002-2017

Abstract

Introduction. The appearance of resistant bacteria is a natural phenome-non that has been potentiated by the inappropriate use of antibiotics and self-medi-cation, which in turn has contributed to the appearance of resistant strains of Entero-bacter and Enterococcus. As a result, a significant increase in health care-associated infections, morbidity and mortality rates, and health system costs has been observed. The objective was to analyze health care-associated infections, particularly bacte-remia, urinary tract infection, endocarditis and meningitis, caused by resistant En-terobacter and Enterococcus strains, in Hispanic America, between the years 2002 and 2017. Materials and methods. A bibliographic search was performed in Else-vier and SciELO, using Health Sciences Descriptors (DeCS). Twenty-six review and original articles that met the inclusion and exclusion criteria were analyzed. Results. Bacteremia was the most common infection in 30.4% of the cases. It is worth noting the limited information found regarding endocarditis and meningitis. Enterococcus faecalis and Enterococcus faecium represented 90% of the clinical isolates. Antibi-otic resistance continues to rise steadily, especially by Enterococcus faecalis. Con-clusion. Health care-associated infections caused by bacteria such as Enterococcus faecalis, Enterococcus faecium, Enterobacter cloacae, and Enterobacter aerogenes are common, although a moderate amount of information is available. An effective approach to this problem in the health care system is necessary for their proper control.