Antibiotic susceptibility profile of acinetobacter isolates from various clinical specimens at a tertiary care hospital in South Karnataka

Acinetobacter is one of the most common pathogens causing Hospital acquired infections(HAIs) and has taken more and more imperative place as an opportunistic, difficult-to-treat pathogen.Development of drug resistance among them during recent years has made treatment of these infectionsdifficult.Objective: 1) To estimate the prevalence of Acinetobacter isolates among various clinical samples inthe study setting. 2) To determine the antimicrobial susceptibility pattern among isolated Acinetobacterspecies.Materials and Methods: A descriptive study was conducted over a period of one year from November2012 to October 2013 in the Department of Microbiology, Mysore Medical College and ResearchInstitute, Mysore among 110 Acinetobacter species isolated from various clinical specimens and antibioticsusceptibility testing was performed using Kirby-Bauer disc diffusion technique. Statistical analysis wasdone using Microsoft office excel 2010.Results: Majority of the Acinetobacter species were isolated from patients younger than 1 year, malepatients especially inpatients and that too among those admitted to Intensive care units (ICU) and majoritywere from pus samples. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing showed maximum resistance 93 (84.54%) tocephalosporin and maximum sensitivity 101(91.81%) to Colistin.Conclusion: This study highlights the need for the surveillance to detect multidrug resistanceAcinetobacter species, judicious use of antibiotics and implementation of appropriate infection controlmeasures to control the spread of these strains in the hospital.Keywords: Acinetobacter, Antibiotic susceptibility, Multidrug Resistance, Prevalence.