ANTIMICROBIAL RESISTANCE TO KLEBSIELLA PNEUMONIAE IN A NORTH EASTERN ROMANIAN HOSPITAL: a descriptive study

Abstract

Microbial resistance is a rapidly escalating phenomenon worldwide, with complex mechanisms and important involvement in the determinants of healthcare-associated and in-hospital infections. At European level, it is estimated that 80.000 hospitalised patients have at least one HAI every day with multi-antimicrobial resistant germs, leading to an extension of hospital stay by 16 million days every year. In high-income countries, the prevalence is around 7.5%, and in low- and middle-income countries, the prevalence ranges from 5.7% to 19.2%. Material and method. Through a retrospective, descriptive study carried out in the Clinc Emergency Hospital ,,Prof.Dr. Nicolae Oblu” in Iasi, Romania in the period 2020-2021, the 602 identified and reported intra-hospital infections were investigated, focusing on the etiology and microbial resistance of the pathogens involved.Results. The most frequent etiological agents of HAI identified in our study were K. pneumoniae (13.45%), A. calcoaceticus (10.11%), S. aureus (8.45%), E. coli (7.62%), P. aeruginosa (5.47%), noting the predominance of Gram-negative bacteria (GN) and the fact that they are part of the ESKAPE group of pathogens, the percentages obtained being similar to the European average. Klebsiella pneumoniae (13.45 %) was the most common in the aetiological palette of HAIs, allowing us to highlight certain peculiarities regarding its antimicrobial resistance.Conclusions. The present study provides useful data for monitoring the resistance of pathogens involved in HAIs at hospital level, for guiding antibiotic therapy in healthcare-associated infections and for substantiating the implementation of a set of measures related to antibiotic therapy and antibiotic prophylaxis.

Keywords

• multidrug-resistant bacteria
• klebsiella pneumoniae
• neurosurgery
• healthcareassociated infections.