Resistance among Gram-negative ESKAPE pathogens isolated from hospitalized patients with intra-abdominal and urinary tract infections in Latin American countries: SMART 2013–2015

Gram-negative ESKAPE pathogens (Klebsiella pneumoniae, Acinetobacter baumannii, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Enterobacter species) are important etiologic agents of nosocomial infection that are frequently resistant to broad-spectrum antimicrobial agents. Gram-negative ESKAPE pathogens were collected from hospitalized patients in 11 Latin American countries from 2013 to 2015 as part of the Study for Monitoring Antimicrobial Resistance Trends (SMART) global surveillance program. In total, 2113 isolates from intra-abdominal infections (IAI) and 970 isolates from urinary tract infections (UTI) were tested against antimicrobial agents using standardized CLSI broth microdilution methodology. Of the agents tested, amikacin demonstrated the highest rates of susceptibility (%) for K. pneumoniae (92.2, 92.3), Enterobacter spp. (97.5, 92.1), and P. aeruginosa (85.3, 75.2) isolates from both IAI and UTI, respectively. Ertapenem (68.5, 62.6) and imipenem (79.2, 75.9) showed substantially higher rates of susceptibility (%) than other β-lactams, including piperacillin-tazobactam (35.9, 37.4) against ESBL-positive isolates of K. pneumoniae from IAI and UTI, respectively. Rates of susceptibility to all agents tested against A. baumannii were ≤30.9%. Gram-negative ESKAPE pathogens isolated from Latin America demonstrated compromised in vitro susceptibility to commonly prescribed broad-spectrum, parenteral antimicrobial agents. Continued surveillance is warranted. New antimicrobial agents with potent activity against Gram-negative ESKAPE pathogens are urgently needed.