ABSTRACT:
Carbapenems are used for treating serious infections caused by multidrug resistant gram negative bacilli including non-fermenters (NFGNB). Stability to B-lactamases had made them the preferred drug of choice in infections with B-lactam- resistant gram negative bacteria including non-fermenting bacteria (NFGNB). The rapid dissemination of carbapenem is therapeutically challenging and necessitates effective antibiotics policies and meticulous surveillance program in a critical care setting. In a state like Chhattisgarh, where information on microbiological aspects of various infectious diseases are negligible, present study is an attempt to determine magnitude of carbapenem resistance in NFGNB recovered from patients with respiratory tract infections in the intensive care units Carbapenems have revolutionalised the treatment of potentially serious infections caused by multidrug resistant gram negative bacilli. The study confirms the occurrence of carbapenem resistance in NFGNB isolates recovered from patients with respiratory infection in the intensive care units (ICUS) A total of 676 endotracheal aspirate specimens were subjected to microbiological work-up which yielded 358 NFGNB isolates in a study conducted at a teaching hospital in tribal dominated region of Chhasttisgarh state during January 2015 to November 2015. A total of 48 NFGNB exhibited resistance to imipenem and meropenem. The carbapenem resistance was predominant with Pseudomonas aeruginosa (58.8 %). The enhanced status of NFGNB as nosocomial pathogens, simultancous with their increased resistance to carbapenems is immensely worrisome and threatens to disrupt-therapeutic approaches especially among those patients admitted to critical care units.