Detection and Determination of the Antibiotic Resistance Patterns in Pseudomonas aeruginosa Strains Isolated From Clinical Specimens in Hospitals of Isfahan, Iran, 2012

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is an opportunistic bacterial pathogen commonly found in the environment mainly in soil and water, but is also regularly found on animals, including humans. It is particularly harmful to patients who already have a compromised immune system, particularly those suffering from the immunodeficiency diseases. Over the years, this particular bacterium has been known to be highly resistant to current antibiotics due to both intrinsic and acquired resistance mechanisms within the bacteria. This study aimed to detect and determine drug resistance patterns in different P. aeruginosa strains isolated from clinical specimens in hospitals of Isfahan, Iran. In this descriptive cross-sectional study, approximately 255 different bacterial isolates were gathered from samples of blood, sputum, urine, wounds, burns, respiratory systems, catheter, eye and peritoneum from the major hospitals of Isfahan, Iran, in 2012. Biochemical tests revealed that 106 of these isolates were P. aeruginosa. The resistance rate of these bacterial strains to different antibiotics was then assessed by antibiogram (kirby-bauer method). Data were analyzed using SPSS (version 16, SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA). Resistance rates of the isolates to various antibiotics were obtained. It was found that cefepime and cefotaxime had the highest resistance rates (100%). However, the resistance rates were also high for the drugs imipenem (58.5%), meropenem (58.5%), ceftazidime (89.6%), aztreonm (96.2%), ciprofloxacin (77.4%) and gentamicin (66%). Moreover, the lowest resistance rate was observed for amikacin (43.4%). The prevalence of P. aeruginosa strains with multiple-drug resistance was very high amongst the clinical samples in the major hospitals of Isfahan. This is quite a worrisome problem and makes the controlling of the strains more difficult.