Prevalence of Elizabethkingia meningoseptica Infections and their Resistant Pattern in Tertiary Care Hospital

Abstract

Elizabethkingia meningoseptica a rare pathogen in earlier times has been accused to infect the immunocompromised, preterm neonates, the patients exposed to longterm antibiotics and intensive care units. The apparent resistance of the multidrug Elizabethkingia meningoseptica affects the selection of appropriate antibacterial agents against it. The current study attempts to determine the prevalence of E. meningoseptica infections and consider the sensitivity pattern in a tertiary care hospital. A prospective study of prevalence of E. meningoseptica in a tertiary care hospital from March 2020 to March 2021 i.e over a period of 1 year. Patient clinical data as well as ABST patterns were collected and analyzed. Out of total 1813 patient’s samples E. meningoseptica was isolates from 21 cases (1.15%). Average age was 61.42 years, with males most likely to be infected (52.38%). All the adult patients had underlying diseases, obstructive gall bladder diseases (n=7, 33.33%) which included choledocholithiasis, obstructive jaundice, cholangitis and carcinoma gallbladder. Urinary tract diseases (n=8, 38.09%) which include chronic kidney disease (CKD) and acute kidney disease (AKD), pneumonia (n=11, 52.38%) including urosepsis and other diseases AML (n=1, 04.7%). Susceptibility tests showed 100% in vitro against few antimicrobials like cefepime, meropenem and amikacin which can be utilized to treat most common Gram-negative bacterial infections. Isolates are usually the completely sensitive to minocycline. E. meningoseptica is a rising microbe in intensive care setup due to its resistance pattern.

Keywords

• elizabethkingia meningoseptica
• immunocompromised
• multidrug resistance
• intensive care unit