Abstract

To investigate the prevalence of Enteric Gram negative bacteria and their antimicrobial susceptibility patterns in Intensive Care Units of Kenyatta National Hospital. No documented study has been done in Kenyatta National Hospital to determine the trends of antimicrobial susceptibility patterns in Intensive Care Units. The study was a laboratory-based study. All the clinical specimens received in the laboratory for culture and sensitivity from Intensive Care Units were subjected to the study. Isolation of Enteric gram-negative bacteria from clinical specimens and identification to the species level was performed by standard methods. Microbiology Laboratory, Kenyatta National Hospital, Kenya. The most prevalent microorganisms were found to be Klebsiella pneumoniae (10.5%), Citrobacterfreundii (8.6%), Enterobacter spp (5.2%), Escherichia coli (5.1%), P. aeruginosa (4.6%), Proteus mirabilis (3.2%) and S.typhimurium (0.14%). A percentage resistance of 10% or less was considered low and a percentage resistance of 50% and above was taken to be high. Moderate resistance was taken to be varying from 11 to 49%. Citrobacterfreundii, Proteus mirabilis, E. coli and Enterobacter spp showed high resistance to at least six antibiotics tested. Klebsiella and Pseudomonas spp showed high resistance to five and four antibiotics respectively. Moderate resistance was exhibited by all the six micro-organisms to an average of five antibiotics tested. Gram negative bacteria, specifically Klebsiellapneumoniae., Enterobacter spp., Citrobacterfreundii., E.coli, P. aeruginosa and Proteus mirabilis. are prevalent in the Intensive Care Units of Kenyatta National Hospital.Isolated micro-organisms exhibited antimicrobial resistance to five commonly used antimicrobials.

Keywords:

Antimicrobial resistance, critical care units, enteric gram negative bacteria, Kenyatta national hospital, prevalenc,

References

Competing interests

The authors have no competing interests.

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The authors have no competing interests.