Antimicrobial resistance profiles of microorganisms isolated from hospitalized patients in Dominican Republic

• Published in: Revista Panamericana de Salud Pública
• Main Authors: David de Luna, José Javier Sánchez, Miguel Peguero, Wilmary García, Sylmari Liciaga, Frank Brito, Pamela Fernández, Arlette Frías, Audrey Richard, Patricia Etienne Marie, Yori Roque, Silvia Calo
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English; Spanish; Portuguese
• Published: Pan American Health Organization 2020
• Subjects: drug resistance; microbial; methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus; enterobacteriaceae; pseudomonas; acinetobacter; dominican republic; Medicine; R; Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine; RC955-962; Public aspects of medicine; RA1-1270; Arctic
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.26633/RPSP.2020.36; https://doaj.org/article/60960f5be1e447cd99277a212ec612aa

Objective. To define the antimicrobial resistance profiles of the microorganisms most commonly isolated from hospitalized adult patients in Dominican Republic (DR). Methods. A retrospective, cross-sectional study of phenotypic antimicrobial susceptibility patterns was conducted using data from 3 802 clinical microbiology reports specifying positive bacterial cultures in samples collected from patients admitted to the clinical, surgery, and intensive care units (ICU) at three tertiary-level care hospitals in the city of Santiago de los Caballeros from 1 January 2016 – 31 December 2017. Descriptive statistics and chi-square test (P ≤ 0.05) were used to analyze the qualitative variables. Results. At the three hospitals, there were 932, 1 090, and 1 780 microbiology reports analyzed. Of the total, 1274 were from the ICU, 1 042 from the surgery unit, and 1 486 from the clinical unit. Methicillin resistance was found in 57.3% of the Staphylococcus aureus isolates and 75.3% of the coagulase-negative staphylococci. Third-generation cephalosporin resistance was detected in 54.4% of isolates identified as members of the Enterobacteriaceae family, 67.3% of the Acinetobacter spp., and 91.7% of the Pseudomonas, while carbapenem resistance was shown by 8.0%, 23.8%, and 51.0% of these, respectively. Most of the resistant Acinetobacter spp. isolates were found in just one hospital and the prevalence of Enterobacteriaceae resistant to carbapenems was highest in the ICU. Conclusion. Antimicrobial resistance levels are high among hospitalized patients in Dominican Republic and may cause enhanced risk factors that impact clinical outcomes. Urgent measures are needed to address antimicrobial resistance in DR.