A Two Years Retrospective Study on Epidemiology Characteristics of Sexually Transmitted Infections From Malaysian Private Healthcare Perspective

@#Introduction: Sexually transmitted Infections (STIs) are major public health concerns reaching an all-time high, globally. In Malaysia data on the prevalence of STIs remains scarce which limits the understanding of STI transmission dynamics and the role of interventions in the control of STIs. The aim of this study is to determine the epidemiology characteristics of STIs mainly from Malaysian private healthcare institutions. Method: A two years (2016 and 2017) retrospective review was conducted on 160 multiplex RT-PCR STI reports from KPJ hospitals, Malaysia. Results: There were 65 (40.6 %) patients positive STIs [male: 21/65 (32.3 %); female: 44/65 (67.7 %)]. The STIs was prevalent among young adults (56/65; 86.2 %) from the central region (46/65; 70.8 %). Females had 1.7 times greater risk to develop STI (20 per 100) and two times higher chance to have multiple STIs (10 per 100) in comparison to male. The single STIs was caused mainly by U. parvum (N=17). In males, U. urealyticum (N=3) and C. trachomatis (N=3) were prevalent, while U. parvum (N=15) was prevalent in females. There were 19 dual infections of STIs which were commonly caused by U. parvum and M. hominis (N=5). There were seven STIs cases caused by three pathogens concurrently including U. urealyticum, U. parvum and C. trachomatis (N=2) and U. urealyticum, M. genitalium and C. trachomatis (N=2). Females from urban communities have higher risk in comparison to males for developing multiple STIs. Conclusion: This study provides an imperative platform for temporal trends of STIs in Malaysia which reflects the health status of certain populations that warrant immediate public health interventions.

Resistance patterns of multidrug resistant Acinetobacter baumannii in an ICU of a tertiary care hospital, Malaysia

Backgrounds and Objective: Antimicrobial resistance is a major health problem worldwide in hospitals. The main contributing factors are exposures to broad-spectrum antimicrobials and cross-infections. Understanding the extent and type of antimicrobial use in tertiary care hospitals will aid in developing national antimicrobial stewardship priorities

Methods: In this study, we have analyzed the antimicrobial agents' usage for acquisition of multidrug resistant using retrospective, cross-sectional, single-centre study in a multidisciplinary ICU at tertiary care hospital

Results: Acinetobacter baumannii [ACB] was isolated in various specimens from 662 patients. From these, 136 patients who were diagnosed with Ventilator-associated pneumonia [VAP] caused by ACB were included into the study. In our study, MDR strain accounts for 51% of all VAP cases caused by ACB. The development of ACB VAP were 10.5 + 6.4 days for MDR strains compared to susceptible organism [7.8 + 4.5 days] and had significantly longer ICU stay

Conclusion: The study concludes that prudent use of antimicrobial agents is important to reduce acquisition of MDR ACB

Vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium of multi locus sequence type 18 in Malaysia

Vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium (VREF) in human infections mostly belong to the high-risk, epidemic, clonal complex-17 (CC17) group. Treatment limitation and high conjugation frequency makes it dominant in hospitals worldwide. We investigated positive cultures by Pulse-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE), multi locus sequence typing (MLST). DNA of two strains (A2 and C) appeared to be clonally related by PFGE. Three strains were of ST 18 type (A1, B and C) and strain A2 is of a new ST 596. This ST 18 type strain found in our study is crucial and is believed to be the first in Malaysia.