title: A survey of antimicrobial resistance in a tertiary referral hospital in the United Arab Emirates.
abstract: Published data on antimicrobial resistance are lacking for the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Knowledge of local patterns of resistance is essential to optimize guidelines for empirical antimicrobial treatment. Awareness of susceptibility patterns in other parts of the world may be important for determining empirical antimicrobial therapy for travelers or patients transferred from abroad. Antibiograms from unique isolates of common hospital and community bacteria are described in a tertiary referral hospital in the UAE, which had no antimicrobial restrictions and limited resources. Antimicrobial resistance rates were unpredictable and were high for Gram-negative organisms, such as Escherichia coli, Shigella sonnei, Campylobacter spp, and also Streptococcus pneumoniae. In contrast, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) comprised less than 5% of S. aureus isolates and glycopeptide-resistant enterococci (GRE) were not detected during the surveillance period. Our results provide data on antimicrobial resistance for the UAE and highlight the need for resources for surveillance of antimicrobial resistance.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Tawam Hospital, PO Box 15258, Al Ain, UAE. pauline.jumaa@uaeu.ac.ae
authors.forename: P A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Jumaa
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Neringer
mesh_terms: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D003625:Data Collection; D024901:Drug Resistance, Multiple, Bacterial; D006090:Gram-Negative Bacteria / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D006094:Gram-Positive Bacteria / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D006786:Hospitals, Urban; D006801:Humans; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests; D014479:United Arab Emirates
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents