Prevalence of ESBL producing Escherichia Coli and Klebsiella species with their co-resistance pattern to antimicrobials.

Extended spectrum β-lactamase producing bacteria are potential emerging pathogens and continue to be a major challenge in clinical setup worldwide. In the present study an attempt was made to study the prevalence of extended spectrum β-lactamase producing Escherichia coli and Klebsiella species from clinical isolates in a rural tertiary care hospital in West Bengal, India with their antimicrobial susceptibility as well as co-resistance pattern to different antimicrobials. A total of 179 Escherichia coli and 62 Klebsiella isolates recovered from various clinical samples of urine, pus, aural swabs and respiratory secretions (including sputum) for a period of six months were subjected to routine antimicrobial susceptibility testing and also tested for extended spectrum β-lactamase production as per NCCLS recommendations. Extended spectrum β-lactamase was detected in 32.40% of Escherichia coli and 40.32% of Klebsiella species isolates. Urine, pus and respiratory samples were common source of extended spectrum β-lactamase producers and resistance rate of these organisms to third generation cephalosporins were more than 30 to 40%. Co-resistance pattern of these extended spectrum β-lactamase producers to other commonly used antimicrobials were also statistically significant (p≤0.05). From the study it is concluded that indiscriminate use of third generation cephalosporins may be responsible for the selection of extended spectrum β-lactamase producing multidrug resistant strains in hospital setup and amikacin is a reliable drug against them.