ABSTRACT
Introduction: Healthcare associated infections(HAI) bymulti-drug resistant organisms(MDRO) are major cause ofmortality and morbidity having significant impact on qualityof life and economic burden. HAI by carbapenem-resistantPseudomonas aeruginosa (CRPsA) and Acinetobacterbaumannii (CRAB) are emerging threat for their highantibiotic resistance and spread via mobile genetic elements.Objectives of this study were to detect prevalence of CRPsAand CRAB infections in a tertiary care hospital of EasternIndia and to determine their antimicrobial resistance profile.Material and methods: This observational study was done inDepartment of Microbiology from January 2018-June 2019.From HAI patients, different clinical samples were collected.Culture and identification by standard conventional methodsand antimicrobial susceptibility tests by modified KirbyBauer disc-diffusion method following CLSI guidelines wereperformed. CRPsA and CRAB cases were identified whenisolates were resistant to ≥1 carbapenem, 10µg imipenemdisc(zone diameter ≤15mm for P. aeruginosa or ≤18mm forA. baumanii) or meropenem disc (≤15mm for P. aeruginosa or≤14mm for A. baumanii).Result: From 27,043 clinical samples, 1785(6.6%)Acinetobacter baumannii and 777(2.87%) Pseudomonasaeruginosa were isolated. CRAB and CRPsA prevalencewere 74.17% and 62.29% respectively. Carbapenemresistance were further categorised into imipenem-resistantmeropenem-resistant (IRMR) (A. baumanii-63.19%, P.aeruginosa-51.61%), imipenem-resistant-meropenemsensitive (IRMS) (A. baumanii-10.48%, P. aeruginosa-9.13%), meropenem-resistant-imipenem-sensitive (MRIS)(A. baumanii -0.51%, P. aeruginosa -1.54%) phenotypes.Fourth category was imipenem-sensitive-meropenemsensitive (ISMS) (A. baumanii -25.82%, P. aeruginosa-37.71%). Carbapenem-resistant groups showed significantlyhigh resistance for all antibiotics excepting colistin.Conclusion: Carbapenems are often used for treatingMDRO. But high carbapenem-resistance in HAI is alarming,warranting judicious use of antibiotics.