Increasing antibiotic resistance in a tertiary care hospital in Sri Lanka

The current study was carried out to analyze blood culture isolates and their antibiotic susceptibility data in a tertiary care hospital using WHONET software. The isolates of blood cultures received from 1^st January 2013 to 31^st December 2013 were analyzed. Of the Staphylococcus aureus, 41.8% were methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). Only 40.7% of Escherichia coli were sensitive to cefotaxime and 92.5% were sensitive to meropenem. Of Klebsiella pneumoniae ss. pneumoniae only 34.7% were sensitive to cefotaxime and 60% were sensitive to meropenem. Only 14.2% of Acinetobacter species were sensitive to meropenem and 26.1% were sensitive to ciprofloxacin.  All 14 isolates from ICU patients were resistant to all the antibiotics tested (Pan resistant). There is an increased percentage of resistance to most antibiotics when this susceptibility data is compared with the previous year’s data of the same hospital and data of the Antibiotic Resistance Surveillance Project (ARSP) of Sri Lanka College of Microbiologists carried out in 2009-2010. Action needs to be taken to control antibiotic resistance with immediate effect. Continuous surveillance of antimicrobial resistance is of paramount importance to monitor trends in antibiotic resistance.

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.4038/sljid.v4i2.6851

Sri Lankan Journal of Infectious Diseases 2014; Vol.4(2):108-114