Abstract
Bacteria develop antimicrobial drug resistance through several mechanisms, the common one being the production of enzymes. As the number of antibiotics discovered is in notable numbers in the past few years, it is important to preserve high-end antibiotics for the treatment of multidrug-resistant organisms (MDROs) infections, by appropriate use of antibiotics. A study was conducted to record prevalence, phenotypic and genotypic characters of MDROs in our hospital, with reference to carbapenem resistance. 200 multidrug-resistant clinical isolates were collected in 6 months. Carbapenem-resistant organisms were detected phenotypically confirmed for the production of carbapenemases by modified Hodge test (MHT) and genotypic detection was done by a multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay for the five most predominant carbapenemases (bla NDM-1, bla OXA-48 , bla VIM, bla IMP, bla KPC). The isolates consisted of E. coli (53 %) followed by K. pneumoniae (30 %), P. aeruginosa (13 %), and acinetobacter spp (4 %). Among these, 40 (20 %) isolates were carbapenem-resistant. Of these 40, 27 (67.5 %) showed an increase in zone size by the MHT, suggestive of metallo-beta-lactamase (MBL) mediated carbapenem resistance and about 32 (80 %) isolates were found to contain at least one carbapenemase gene. bla NDM-1 accounted for 37.5 % (12 / 32) of the isolates and was the most predominant one followed by bla OXA-48 [28 % (9 / 32)]. 22 % (7 / 32) of the isolates had one or more carbapenemase genes. Identifying the mechanisms of resistance of pathogens is important to implement strict infection prevention and control measures in the hospital to prevent the transmission of the resistant pathogens. KEY WORDS Multidrug-Resistant Bacteria, Bla NDM-1 Gene, Bla OXA-48 Gene, Carbapenem Resistance, Carbapenem Resistant Organisms.