Detection of Multidrug-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa in Tawam Hospital, United Arab Emirates

Abstract

Pseudomonas aeruginosa (P. aeruginosa) is naturally resistant to a large number of antibiotics. Multidrug resistant (MDR) P. aeruginosa constitute a true health problem worldwide. This study was conducted during the period from January to April 2015 to detect multidrug resistantP. aeruginosa in Tawam Hospital, UAE. A total of seventyP. aeruginosa isolates were obtained from Microbiology Laboratory, Tawam Hospital, UAE. The isolates were previously recovered from clinical specimens including urine, blood, wound swabs, sputum and body fluids. The isolates purity was checked by streaking on nutrient agar and examined microscopically. Gram stain was done to all isolates. VITEK machine was used to complete the process of re- identification and to detect MDR. Kirby-Bauer Disc Diffusion Method was used to confirm detection of MDR among the isolates. The results revealed that re-identification process confirmed that all isolates (n= 70) were P. aeruginosa. The majority (n=25) were isolated from sputum while the least (n=3) form body fluids. Twenty (n=20) of the total isolates were recovered from patients in ICU and only four (n=4) from surgery word. Study on detection of MDR revealed that all isolates (n=70) were multidrug-resistant. The highest resistance was detected in Meropenem (78.6%) and the lowest rate of resistance was detected in Colistin (2.8 %). It is concluded that MDR P. aeruginosa in Tawam Hospital is common. Treatment of this organism with Colistin and Tigecycline is recommended. Further studies with large number of isolates and molecular techniques are required to validate the result of the present study.