ANTIMICROBIAL RESISTANCE PROFILES OF BACTERIAL ISOLATES FROM CLINICAL SPECIMENS OF PATIENTS REFERRED TO A PRIVATE LABORATORY DURING 2023

Introduction: AMR is a global health and development threat that emerged as one of the major public health problems of the 21st century and warns against the effective prevention and treatment of an ever-increasing range of infections. Identifying the most common bacterial pathogens and their respective AMR profiles would be valuable to optimize treatment and reduce morbidity and mortality associated with infectious disease. Thus, up-to-date information on microbial resistance is needed at local and national levels to guide the rational use of the existing antimicrobials. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the antimicrobial resistance patterns of the bacterial isolate from different clinical specimens referred to a private laboratory during 2023. Material and methods: Samples received from different hospitals in Surat City during the year 2023 for culture and sensitivity tests was analysed to know the burden of AMR at the local level. Different types of samples were received during 2023 for culture and antimicrobial sensitivity tests, like blood, pus, stool, body fluids, urine, etc., which were processed for aerobic culture on different in-house prepared culture media. From the isolates, antimicrobial sensitivity tests were done using the manual Kirby-Bauer disk diffusion method on Muller Hinton agar. Result:In our study, the predominant samples were urine (272/646 total samples) and blood (271/646 total samples), followed by pus (51/646 samples). Predominant culture positivity was found in the urine sample. The predominant organism isolated in urine was E. coli (91/100 isolates), and in blood samples the predominant isolates were S. Typhi (31/46 isolates), followed by E. coli (13/46 isolates). In pus samples, S. aureus followed by E. coli were isolated predominantly, followed by P. aeruginosa and K.pneumoniae. The cumulative MDR isolate rate in this study was 64.29%, which is alarming. Discussion:The most prevalent bacteria in this study is Escherichia coli. Overall, the multidrug resistance rates found in this study were alarming: 64.29%. Therefore,strengthening antimicrobial resistance surveillance at the national level and antimicrobial sensitivity testing at local diagnostic centres are very important in reducing the challenges of antimicrobial resistance.