Antimicrobial Resistance in Northwestern Hospitals of Nicaragua

Abstract

In recent years, an increase in the incidence of Antimicrobial Resistance has been observed among pathogens that cause mainly nosocomial infections and also in the community. Antimicrobial resistance is a global public health problem, basically promoted by the use and abuse of antibiotics. The phenomenon of antimicrobial resistance is a priority research area of ​​the Infectious Diseases Research Center and as part of its activities, a study was carried out in three northwestern hospitals (León, Chinandega and Estelí) with the aim of knowing the profile of resistance or antimicrobial susceptibility of aerobic bacteria isolated from patients who were treated at these hospitals in the period from May 2003 to May 2006. 1181 strains of aerobic bacteria were included in the study and the Kirby Bauer method was used according to NCCLS recommendations, to determine the resistance profile. The most frequent bacterial species studied were Staphylococcus aureus (385 strains), E. coli (209 strains), Pseudomonas spp. (180 strains) followed by a smaller number of strains of Shigella spp., group A beta-hemolytic Streptococcus and other Gram-negative bacilli obtained mainly from biological samples of skin and soft tissue infections, neonatal bacteremia, urinary tract infections and pharyngotonsillitis. The results obtained were the following: Penicillin was the least effective drug against E. aureus; an important percentage greater than 25% were resistant to methicillin, mainly strains from Estelí.