Pathogen burden & associated antibiogram of Pseudomonas spp. in a tertiary care hospital of India

Antimicrobial resistance particularly in Gram-negative bacilli is an increasing problem worldwide. Pseudomonas spp. is one the most common Gram-negative bacteria associated with nosocomial infections and therefore, its trend of antimicrobial resistance needs to be studied. The aim of this study was to evaluate the rate of antimicrobial resistance and changes in resistance pattern over a period of five years (2012-2016) in Pseudomonas spp. isolated from trauma patients attending a tertiary care hospital in north India. During the study, a total of 2444 Pseudomonas spp. were isolated from the various clinical sample. The most common species isolated was P. aeruginosa (2331, 95%). The highest level of resistance was observed against levofloxacin (1678, 69%) and the lowest level of resistance was observed against tobramycin (1254, 51%). Irrational and inappropriate use of antibiotics was found to be responsible for multidrug resistance in Pseudomonas spp. Hence, there is an urgent need to emphasize strict antibiotic policy to minimize the misuse of antimicrobials.