Surveillance of Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria in King Khalid Hospital, Hafr Al-Batin, Saudi Arabia, During 2013

BACKGROUND: Research to understand and control the emergence and spread of antimicrobial resistance has become a public health priority. OBJECTIVES: This study was conducted to study epidemiology and resistant pattern of bacteria causing infection in different King Khalid hospital units. PATIENTS AND METHODS: All samples were sent to the lab and routinely processed according to the standard microbiological procedures. Then, the cultures yielding growth were selected for the study. Identification and antibiotic susceptibility test for all clinical isolates were processed by using MicroScan instrumentation. A total of 428 clinical samples were collected within 8 months; out of them, 300 clinical isolates were subjected to validation test. RESULTS: Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumonia, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa were the commonly identified Gram-negative bacteria. Staphylococcus aureus was the only identified Gram-positive bacterium. The most common infections were taken from the wounds (39.0%), urinary tract (32.3%), and bloodstream (17.8%). The most common antibiotic-resistant bacteria were found on female surgical ward (100%) followed by ICU (90.2%), and male surgical ward (88.2%). The overall results of antibiotic resistance were 100% for S. aureus, 93.3% K. pneumonia, 75.7 % E. coli, and 100% for P. aeruginosa. Staphylococcus aureus showed high resistance to ampicillin and linezolid (94.1%). High (86.95%) and full resistance (100%) against ampicillin were observed from E. coli and K. pneumonia, respectively. P. aeruginosa was fully resistant to 4 antibiotics of cefazoline, cefoxitin, tetracycline, and trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole. CONCLUSIONS: The study was useful in determining the risk factors and defining different hospital units which should be targeted for measures to prevent infection.