Antimicrobial Susceptibility Pattern of Pseudomonas Aeruginosa and Antibiotic Use in King Fahd Hospital of the University in Khobar, Saudi arabia

(Huda Abdul Rahim Bukhari and Abu Hani determined Mowafy)

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Abstract

Nosocomial infections caused by Pseudomonas aeruginosa in critically ill patients are often difficult to treat because of resistance to multiple antimicrobials. The purpose of this study was to evaluate antimicrobial resistance among P. aeruginosa isolates at King Fahad Hospital of the University from 1998-2004. We also evaluated the consumption of antipseudomonal agents over the same period. One thousand two hundred and eighty four nonduplicate isolates of P. aeruginosa were tested. Decreasing susceptibility to all antipseudomonal agents was observed with the greatest declines involving ciprofloxacin (96 -64%, p <0.05), gentamicin (85-60%, p <0.05)), ceftazidime (68-47%, p <0.05), and cefepime (78-64%, p <0.05). Despite the increasing use of pipracillin/tazobactam, susceptibility rate did not decrease significantly during the study period (83-77% p >0.05). In addition, although ceftazidime and gentamicin use decreased, the proportion of P. aeruginosa that was susceptible to these agents continued to decrease for the first six years of the study and stabilized in 2004. Among the agents tested, meropenem, amikacin, imipenem and pipracillin-tazobactam, were the most active against P. aeruginosa, although susceptibility to any agent tested was still less than 90%. Ongoing surveillance studies are crucial in monitoring antimicrobial susceptibility patterns and the selection of empirical treatment regimen.
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