| dc.description.abstract | Antibiotic resistant alert organism surveillance is essential for early prediction of outbreaks,
timely investigation, and for implementation of control measures. The aim was to compare the
rates of seven specified antibiotic resistant alert organisms during COVID-19 pandemic and prepandemic
era at University Hospital KDU. Laboratory records from July to December during the
years 2019 and 2021 were scrutinized. Three groups were identified: Group 01- COVID 19
patients, Group 02 – non-COVID-19 patients in pandemic era, and Group 03 – non-COVID-19
patients in the pre-pandemic era. A total of 501 alert organisms belonging to seven groups were
analyzed. Staphylococcus aureus (n=12,79,60), Enterobacteriacea (n=162,388,296),
Pseudomonas (n=63,83,74), Enterococcus (n=41,40,14) and Acinetobacter (n=91,35,31) were
isolated from the three groups. Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) rates were
83.3%,34.2%,56.7% while ESBL producing Enterobacteriaceae were 19.7%,18.8%,28.7%,
Carbapenem resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) were 33.3%,4.4%,4.4%, Carbapenem Resistant
Pseudomonas (CRP) were 20.6%,16.9%,10.8%, Vancomycin resistant Enterococcus (VRE) were
26.8%,15%,35.7%, multidrug resistant Acinetobacter were 49.5%, 54.3%, 48.4% and the colistin
resistant organisms (CRO) were 4.8%, 0.42%, 0% respectively in group 1,2 and 3. Statistically
significant higher rates of alert organisms were found in group 01 compared to group 02
(P<0.05), while no statistically significant differences were observed between samples of group
01 and group 03 ( P=0.11) or group 02 and 03 ( P=0.12). Increased rates were observed for CRE
and CRO in Group 1 when compared to Group 2 and 3. Challenges faced in implementing, infection
prevention precautions and antibiotic stewardship measures during the pandemic may have
contributed to these observations. | en_US |
