Changes in gram negative microorganisms' resistance pattern during 4 years period in a referral teaching hospital; a surveillance study.
OBJECTIVE
Surveillance studies evaluating antimicrobial susceptibilities are of great value in preventing the spread of resistant pathogens by elucidating the trend of resistance in commonly used antibiotics and as a consequence providing information for prescribing the most appropriate agent. This study is a longitudinal antimicrobial resistance surveillance study designed to evaluate the trend in antimicrobial resistance to gram negative microorganisms from 2007 to 2010.


METHODS
During a four-year period (2007-2010) isolates derived from all patients admitted to infectious diseases ward of Imam Khomeini Hospital, the major referral center for infectious disease in Iran with the highest admission rates, were evaluated. Based on disk diffusion method and zone of inhibition size, the microorganism was regarded as to be sensitive, resistant or has intermediate susceptibility to the antimicrobial agents.


RESULTS
The widest spread Gram-negative microorganism in all of isolates taken together in our study was E.coli (30%) followed by Stenotrophomonas maltophilia in 28.6% and Enterobacter spp. in 11.9%, respectively. The susceptibility to amikacin, imipenem, piperacillin/tazobactam, and nitrofurantoin was equal or above 50% for all microorganisms over four years. However, the susceptibility to ampicillin, ampicillin/sulbactam, cefotaxim, and ceftriaxone was less than 50% in derived isolates during the study period.


CONCLUSIONS
In conclusion, the finding of the present study revealed that resistance rate to common antimicrobial agents in Iran is growing and isolates were susceptible mostly to broad-spectrum antibiotics including imipenem and piperacillin/tazobactam.
Department of Clinical Pharmacy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. khalilih@tums.ac.ir.
Hossein
H
Khalili
Simin
S
Dashti-Khavidaki
Mohammad-Reza
MR
Shahidi
Alireza
A
Abdollahi
Sirous
S
Jafari
Zahra
Z
Jahangard-Rafsanjani
Azita-Hajhosssein
AH
Talasaz