Prevalence of Carbapenem resistance in clinical bacterial species isolated from Kano, North West Nigeria

Abstract

Carbapenems are antimicrobials of last resort used in the treatment of highly drug resistant bacterial pathogens including cephalosporin resistant strains. However, Carbapenem-resistant strains are emerging worldwide, and resistance rates have reached 50-60% in some countries. Increasing rates of bacterial resistance to beta lactam antibiotics such as Cephalosporins and Carbapenems are of great concern, especially in low income countries where treatments with such antibiotics (Carbapenems) are not frequent. In Nigeria, data regarding Carbapenemase and other beta lactamase mediated resistance are scarce, this poses a great danger to general health care delivery system. This study was carried out to determine the susceptibility pattern of bacterial strains (from patients attending Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital) to Carbapenems. The antimicrobial susceptibility pattern of the clinical bacterial isolates (obtained from Microbiology Department of Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital) to 3^rd generation cephalosporins (cefotaxime and ceftriaxone) was determined by Kirby Bauer disc diffusion method, according to CLSI guidelines, resistant isolates were further subjected to Carbapenem (Imipinem and Meropenem) susceptibility testing. Out of 157 Cephalosporin resistant isolates analyzed, 52 (14.9%) were Carbapenem resistant, Escherichia coli had the highest frequency of Carbapenem resistant strains of 20(31.3%) while Pseudomonas aeruginosa had the least frequency of 3(18.8 %). The findings of the study showed that Carbapenem resistance occurred in Kano with a prevalence rate of 14.9%, indicating a danger of limited treatment options in the near future. This emphasizes the need for effective infection prevention and control measures to avoid the spread of Carbapenem resistant Enterobacteriaceae in hospital setting.