Antibiotic susceptibility profile of acinetobacter isolates from various clinical specimens at a tertiary care hospital in South Karnataka

Introduction: Acinetobacter is one of the most common pathogens causing Hospital acquired infections (HAIs) and has taken more and more imperative place as an opportunistic, difficult-to-treat pathogen. Development of drug resistance among them during recent years has made treatment of these infections difficult. Objective: 1) To estimate the prevalence of Acinetobacter isolates among various clinical samples in the study setting. 2) To determine the antimicrobial susceptibility pattern among isolated Acinetobacter species. Materials and Methods: A descriptive study was conducted over a period of one year from November 2012 to October 2013 in the Department of Microbiology, Mysore Medical College and Research Institute, Mysore among 110 Acinetobacter species isolated from various clinical specimens and antibiotic susceptibility testing was performed using Kirby-Bauer disc diffusion technique. Statistical analysis was done using Microsoft office excel 2010. Results: Majority of the Acinetobacter species were isolated from patients younger than 1 year, male patients especially inpatients and that too among those admitted to Intensive care units (ICU) and majority were from pus samples. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing showed maximum resistance 93 (84.54%) to cephalosporin and maximum sensitivity 101(91.81%) to Colistin. Conclusion: This study highlights the need for the surveillance to detect multidrug resistance Acinetobacter species, judicious use of antibiotics and implementation of appropriate infection control measures to control the spread of these strains in the hospital. Keywords: Acinetobacter, Antibiotic susceptibility, Multidrug Resistance, Prevalence.