Prevalence and antibiogram of Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolated from various clinical samples in a tertiary care ICU setting

Background: Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a leading cause of nosocomial infections. Increased resistance in this organism continues to cause a significant threat to patient care because of limited therapeutic options. Knowledge of the prevalence of P. aeruginosa in various infections and its antimicrobial susceptibility pattern is one of the salient attributes for selection of appropriate therapy. Objective: To determine the prevalence and antibiotic resistance pattern of P. aeruginosa from various clinical samples collected from different ICUs. Methodology: From 10,332 clinical specimen received over a period of one year, a total of 267 P. aeruginosa isolates were identified and minimum inhibitory concentrations for various antibiotics was found out with help of automated method VITEK 2 (bioMerieux). Results: A total of 267 (2.58%) P. aeruginosa isolates were identified from various clinical specimens. Maximum number 49 (18.35%) of isolates were recovered from patients in 61-70 years age group. The sensitivity pattern of the isolates is as follows - colistin (80.14%), amikacin (52.05%), ciprofloxacin (47.19%), gentamicin (46.55%), cefepime (44.56%), imipenem (42.69%), cefoperazone/ sulbactam (42.69%), levofloxacin (41.57%), meropenem (39.70%), ceftazidime (38.20%), piperacillin/ tazobactam (31.08%), aztreonam (25.46%) and Ticarcillin/ clavulanic acid (22.47%). Conclusion: The prevalence and sensitivity of P. aeruginosa varies between communities, hospitals and different patient populations. It is therefore, important to institute a system of surveillance in a hospital so that clinicians have access to recent data on prevalence and antimicrobial resistance which helps in making clinical judgement in therapy.