Saghar Jafari-Ramedani, Fereshteh Hasanpour, Alireza Mohammadnia, Farzad Khademi, Aida Alinezhad,
Volume 24, Issue 3 (10-2024)
Background: The Gram-negative pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa (P. aeruginosa) is a common cause of hospital-acquired infections. This bacterium is continuously increasing its resistance to commonly used antimicrobial drugs, posing significant challenges for clinical treatment. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the trend of antibiotic resistance in P. aeruginosa from 2019 to 2023 in hospitals in Ardabil city.
Methods: This cross-sectional descriptive study utilized 200 clinical isolates of P. aeruginosa obtained from urine, respiratory, wound, blood, and cerebrospinal fluid samples of patients who visited Ardabil hospitals between June 2019 and May 2023. The sensitivity and resistance of P. aeruginosa isolates to antibiotics-including piperacillin, piperacillin / tazobactam, ceftazidime, cefepime, aztreonam, imipenem, meropenem, amikacin, tobramycin, netilmicin, ciprofloxacin, ofloxacin, norfloxacin, levofloxacin, and colistin-were assessed using the disk diffusion and agar dilution methods.
Results: Over a period of 4 years, the resistance of P. aeruginosa to various antibiotics was observed as follows: piperacillin 45.5%, piperacillin/tazobactam 31%, ceftazidime 44%, cefepime 46%, aztreonam 12%, imipenem 67.5%, meropenem 52%, amikacin 43%, tobramycin 45.5%, netilmicin 39.2%, ciprofloxacin 55.5%, ofloxacin 62%, norfloxacin 53.5%, levofloxacin 55.5%, and colistin 9%. It is worth mentioning that the trend of antibiotic resistance in P. aeruginosa to all tested antibiotics increased during the first and second years, decreased in the third year, and then experienced a significant increase again in the fourth year. Throughout this period, the emergence of multidrug-resistant (MDR) strains of P. aeruginosa has also been on the rise.
Conclusion: The present study confirmed that the overall trend of resistance to various antibiotics among P. aeruginosa strains isolated from patients in Ardabil is on the rise.