Frequency and antimicrobial susceptibility of gram-negative bacteria isolated from 2 hospitals in Makkah, Saudi Arabia

To estimate the prevalence and antibiotic susceptibility of the gram-negative bacteria isolated from 2 hospitals in Makkah.

This study was undertaken in 2 main tertiary care hospitals namely; Al-Noor Specialist Hospital, and Hera Hospital in Makkah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia from October 2005 to March 2006. A total of 1137 gram-negative bacteria were identified in non-duplicate clinical specimens obtained from 965 patients of various body sites infections. Demographic data, identity of microorganisms, and antimicrobial susceptibilities were obtained from medical and laboratory records.

The most prevalent gram-negative bacteria were Escherichia coli (31.6%), and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (31.2%), followed by Acinetobacter baumannii (10.8%), Klebsiella pneumoniae (8.3%), Klebsiella sp. (6.2%), Haemophilus influenzae (3.7%), Proteus sp. (3.3%), and Enterobacter sp. (1.9%). Results demonstrated that gram-negative bacteria have a high rate of resistance to commonly used antibiotics. Furthermore, multi-drug resistance was also common in this study.

Our data showed a high rate of resistance among gram-negative pathogens in comparison with other countries in the world. The implementation of monitoring programs is an important part of the prevention strategy against the development of antibiotic resistance in hospitals.