Antimicrobial Susceptibility Pattern of Enterococcus Species Isolated from Various Clinical Specimens in a Tertiary Care Hospital, Kathmandu, Nepal

Abstract

Resistance to vancomycin and high level aminoglycosides are common among Enterococcus spp. and are being increasingly reported from different parts of the world. These resistance phenomena in enterococci have limited the therapeutic options to treat the infections caused by them. The objective of our study was to determine the antimicrobial resistance patterns of Enterococcus spp. (n=60) isolated over a year from clinical specimens received from patients visiting Nepal Medical College Teaching Hospital, Kathmandu, Nepal. All enterococci were subjected to antimicrobial susceptibility testing, high level gentamicin resistance testing by disc diffusion method and minimum inhibitory concentration of vancomycin by agar dilution method. Prevalence of high level gentamicin resistance among enterococci was 55%. None of the isolates were resistant to vancomycin by both disc diffusion and agar dilution method. However 8.3% of them were intermediate to vancomycin. All of these vancomycin intermediate isolates were from samples from hospital admitted patients and resistant to ampicillin, ciprofloxacin, erythromycin and high level gentamicin. Present findings were suggestive of possible emergence of vancomycin resistant enterococci in the hospital if immediate and adequate control measures are not implemented.