Phenotypic detection of ESBL and MBL production among Non-Fermenters isolated from various clinical specimens

Introduction: The emergence of antimicrobial resistance is a major public health challenge globally. Non fermenters are emerging now-a-days and posing a critical threat to hospitalized patients. They also have become one of the most common etiological agents of hospital acquired infections. The aim is to isolate and identify the various non fermenters from patients admitted in our tertiary care hospital and their antimicrobial susceptibility pattern and carry out phenotypic tests to identify ESBL and MBL producers. Materials and methods: A descriptive cross sectional study was conducted for a period of 7 months by collecting the clinical samplesas per the standard protocols.The Identification of bacteria was performed by conventional microbial culture and biochemical tests according to the standard recommended techniques.All data were entered into a Data Collection proforma Sheet and were entered into Microsoft excel data sheet. Results: Out of 1654 clinical samples we have isolated 100 (6.04%) non fermenters bacteria. Out of 100 samples majority were Pseudomonas aeruginosa it was 96% and remaining 4% were Acinetobacter baumannii. Majority of the isolates were from pyogenic infections and respiratory tract infections. Both Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Acinetobacter baumannii showed high susceptibility to amikacin (93%), meropenem (86%), imipenem (81%), moderate susceptibility to piperacilin+tazobactum (79%), levofloxacin (73%).Among non fermenters 23% were ESBL producers and 13% were MBL producers in the present study. Conclusion: Non fermenter Gram Negative bacilli are becoming resistant to beta lactam and beta lactam inhibitors and also emerging as carbapenem resistant. To prevent the spread of carbapenem resistant Non fermenters it is critically important to implement policies stringently by state and local health authorities by framing a strong antimicrobial stewardship programme and practicing infection control measures.