Antimicrobial susceptibility pattern of clinical isolates of Burkholderia pseudomallei in Bangladesh

BACKGROUND: Melioidosis an infectious disease, caused by a Gram negative bacterium called Burkholderia pseudomallei, is endemic in Bangladesh. This organism is sensitive to limited number of antimicrobial agents and need prolonged treatment. There is no comprehensive data on the antimicrobial susceptibility profile of B. pseudomallei isolated in Bangladesh over last several years. The present study aimed to determine the antimicrobial susceptibility pattern of B. pseudomallei isolated in a tertiary care hospital of Dhaka city from 2009 to 2015. METHODS: All B. pseudomallei isolated from melioidosis patients over a period of 7 years (2009–2015) in the Department of Microbiology of a 725-bed tertiary care referral hospital in Dhaka city, Bangladesh were included in the study. B. pseudomallei was identified by Gram stain, culture, specific biochemical tests, serology and PCR using specific primers constructed from 16s rRNA region of B. pseudomallei. Antimicrobial susceptibility to specific agents was determined by disk diffusion and minimum inhibitory concentration methods. RESULTS: A total of 20 isolates of B. pseudomallei which were isolated from patients coming from different geographic locations of Bangladesh were included in the study. All the isolates were uniformly sensitive (100%) to ceftazidime, imipenem, piperacillin–tazobactam, amoxicillin–clavulanic acid and tetracycline by both disk diffusion and MIC methods. Two strains were resistant to trimethoprim–sulfamethoxazole by disk diffusion method but were sensitive by MIC method. The MIC(50) and MIC(90) values of the above antimicrobial agents were almost similar. All the isolates were resistant to amikacin by both MIC and disk diffusion methods. CONCLUSION: The results of the study suggest that B. pseudomallei prevalent in Bangladesh were still susceptible to all recommended antimicrobial agents used for the treatment of melioidosis. However, regular monitoring is needed to detect any emergence of resistance and shifting of MIC(50) and MIC(90) values.