Epidemiological study of pathogens isolated from blood in Liguria during 2011

Objectives. An epidemiological study addressed to identify the most represented pathogens isolated from blood and to evaluate their antibiotic susceptibility patterns, was conducted. Methods. Five clinical microbiology laboratories, homogenously distributed in Liguria, were required to collected all consecutive non-duplicates strains isolated from blood cultures during March 2011 to May 2011. the strains were sent to the reference laboratory (Section of Microbiology, DISC, University of Genoa, Italy). Results. A total of 159 microorganisms were enrolled, including 81 Gram positive, 69 Gram negative and 9 fungi.The most represented pathogens were: Escherichia coli (35), Staphylococcus aureus (26), S. epidermidis (20), S. hominis (10). Samples were collected mainly from medicine (59 isolates).Among the staphylococci, the most active molecules were: vancomycin (100% of susceptible strains), teicoplanin (93.4%), trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (83.8%) and tobramycin (61.6%). Enterococci showed rates of resistance to vancomycin of 25%. Enterobacteriaceae exhibited resistance to ampicillin (76.9%), ceftriaxone (44.4%), ciprofloxacin (43.3%), trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (36.6%) and ceftazidime (32.2%). Conclusions. The data show a higher incidence of Gram positive (51%) in comparison to Gram negative (43.4%). Gram-positive strains showed a high resistance level to fluoroquinolones (92.3%) while Gram-negative resulted resistant to ceftriaxone (44.4%) and fluoroquinolone (43.3%)

Epidemiological study of pathogens isolated from blood in Liguria (January-April 2010)

Objectives. An epidemiological study to identify the most represented pathogens isolated from blood and to evaluate their antibiotic susceptibility patterns, was conducted. Methods. Seven clinical microbiology laboratories, homogeneously distributed in the Ligurian area,were required to collected all consecutive non-duplicates strains isolated froom blood cultures during January 2010 to April 2010. The strains were sent to the reference laboratory (Sezione di Microbiologia del DISC, University of Genoa, Italy). Results. A total of 277 microorganisms were enrolled, including 155 Gram positive and 122 Gram negative.The most represented pathogens were: Escherichia coli (68), Staphylococcus aureus (57), Staphylococcus epidermidis (32), Staphylococcus hominis (17), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (15), Klebsiella pneumoniae (15), Enterococcus faecalis (11). Samples were collected mainly from medicine (66, 33.3%, of this number was determined by E. coli), intensive care units (33, 18.2% of this number consisted of S. epidermidis), surgery (24, 33.3% consisted of E. coli) and infectious diseases (20, of which S. aureus, E. coli and S. epidermidis equally represented 20.0%).Among the Staphylococci the most active molecules were: vancomycin and teicoplanin (100% of susceptible strains), chloramphenicol (92.3%) and trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (89.8%). Among the OXA-R Staphylococci (81/123, 65.9%) the most active molecules were: vancomycin and teicoplanin (100% of susceptible strains), chloramphenicol (93.8%) and trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (84.8%). Enterococci showed rates of resistance to vancomycin of 5.9%. Enterobacteriaceae exhibited resistance to ampicillin (77.5%), trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (42.6%), ciprofloxacin (41.2%), ceftriaxone (37.5%), ceftazidime (28.2%), cefepime (26.7%), cefoxitin (22.1%), piperacillintazobactam (20.4%), imipenem (4.7%) and amikacin (2.9%). The Gram negative non-Enterobacteriaceae showed rates of resistance of 100% to ceftriaxone, 81.3% to trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, 42.1% to ciprofloxacin and piperacillin-tazobactam, 33.3% to ceftazidime, 31.6% to cefepime, 27.8% to imipenem, 26.3 % to amikacin. Conclusions. The data show a higher incidence of Gram positive (56%) in comparison to Gram negative (44%).This confirms the high incidence of oxacillino-resistance in Staphylococci in our geographic area.Against Enterobacteriaceae rates of resistance were observed in excess of 20% for all drugs tested except imipenem (4.7%) and amikacin (2.9%). The proportion of imipenem-resistant isolates was constituted of strains of K. pneumoniae carbapenemase producers

Epidemiological study of pathogens collected from blood for a period of a year (2008-2009)

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Epidemiological study of pathogens collected from blood for a period of a year (2008-2009)

Objectives. An epidemiological study, addressed to identify the pathogens isolated from blood, and their antibiotic susceptibility patterns, was conducted. Methods. 12 laboratories, homogeneously distributed in a Northern area of Italy, were required to collected all consecutive non-duplicated strains isolated from blood during February 2008 to February 2009 and sent them to the reference laboratory. Results. A total of 1092 microorganisms were collected, including 653 gram-positive, 385 gram-negative and 54 fungi. Escherichia coli 234, Staphylococcus epidermidis 205, S. aureus 142, S. hominis 87, Enterococcus faecalis 47, S. haemolyticus 33, Klebsiella pneumoniae 33, Pseudomonas aeruginosa 32, Candida albicans 28, Enterobacter cloacae 21 were the prevalent microrganisms found. Samples were collected mainly from medicine (255 strains), intensive care units (154), surgery (99), infectious diseases (93), paediatrics (62) and nephrology (62). Antibiotic resistance (in %) in staphylococci was 65.7 (methicillin), 33.5 (gentamicin), 61.8 (azithromycin), 59.6 (erythromycin), 45.2 (ciprofloxacin) 14.8 (chloramphenicol), 2.0 (teicoplanin), and 24.1 (trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole) no vancomycin-resistant strain was found. Enterococci showed resistance to vancomycin (10.8), ampicillin (34.4), gentamycin (42.9), ciprofloxacin (42.2) teicoplanin (7.6), erythromycin (54.7) and chloramphenicol (17.5). Enterobacteriaceae exhibited resistance to ciprofloxacin(27.0), ampicillin (74.1), ceftazidime (15.8), cefoxitin (14.7), cefepime (13.3), ceftriaxone (15.0), both imipenem and amikacin (0.95), piperacillin-tazobactam (5.1) and trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (32.7). Non fermenting gram negative strains were found resistant to ciprofloxacin (27.3), ceftazidime (9.5), cefepime (14.6), ceftriaxone (81.6), both imipenem and amikacin (18.6), trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (65.2), and piperacillin-tazobactam (7.5). Conclusions.These data show a prevalent incidence of gram-positive (59.7 %) in comparison to gram-negative (35.3%) bacteria isolated from blood.A high percentage of methicillin-resistant staphylococci as well as ceftazidime-resistance among Enterobacteriaceae is also observed suggesting that this phenomenon requires periodically surveillance