ABSTRACT
Background: Multidrug‑resistant tuberculosis (MDR‑TB) has emerged as an important global health concern and is on the rise throughout the world. Objective: The aim of this study was to examine the epidemiology and pattern of TB drug resistance. Methods: In this cross‑sectional study, 180 pulmonary TB patients from two Northwestern provinces of Iran were selected. The first and second line drug susceptibility testing was carried out using the 1% proportion method on the Löwenstein–Jensen medium. Full demographic, environmental and clinical history was evaluated. Results: Prevalence of resistance to any TB drug was 13.8%. Eight (4.4%) patients had MDR‑TB (2.4% in the province of East Azerbaijan and 9.3% in the province of Ardabil) and one patient had extensively drug‑resistant TB. Patient resistance to both isoniazid and streptomycin was the most prevalent at a rate of 8.3%. Patients showed the least resistance to ethambutol (2.8%). There was a significant relationship between the previous history of TB drug treatment and TB drug resistance. Migrants from rural to urban areas were in high‑risk groups for the occurrence of TB drug resistance. Conclusion: In our study, prevalence of MDR was less than the global average. It is essential to monitor the patients with previous history of TB treatment and migrants by rapid and accurate techniques in terms of drug‑resistance odds.
ABSTRACT
Enterococci have been recognized as clinically important pathogens in high-risk populations of hospitalized patients. The role of enterococci in nosocomial infections is being recognized with increasing frequency. The main source of these infections is usually fecal carriage of the microorganisms. In this study, gastrointestinal colonization with vancomycin resistant enterococci (VRE) and high-level aminoglycoside resistant enterococci among 316 high-risk hospitalized patients were investigated. One hundred and ninety-eight enterococci strains were isolated from stool specimens. All strains were identified to species level and 90 of the isolates were identified as Enterococcus faecalis (45%), 85 as E. faecium (21.5%), 14 as E. avium (7%), 7 as E. raffinosus (3.5%), 1 as E. durans (0.5%) and 1 as E. hirae (0.5%). Eleven of 198 strains were found to be moderately sensitive to vancomycin (MIC: 8-16 microg/ml) by the agar dilution method according to the National Committee for Clinical Laboratory Standards (NCCLS) recommendations, and the rest of these strains were found to be sensitive (MIC < or = 4 microg/ml). Twenty-eight strains showed high-level resistance to streptomycin (2,000 microg/ml) and 26 strains were found to have high-level resistance to gentamicin (500 microg/ml). Twelve of these strains had high-level resistance to both aminoglycosides. By the disk diffusion tests, 53 of 198 strains were found to be resistant to erythromycin, 51 to penicillin, 37 to ampicillin, 18 to ciprofloxacin, 14 to norfloxacin and 3 to nitrofurantoin. No beta-lactamase production was detected in 198 studied strains.