Changing Antimicrobial Susceptibility and Resistance Pattern of Acinetobacter Species over the Last Eight Years in a Tertiary Care Hospital in Lahore, Pakistan

Background: Acinetobacter spp. is a highly resistant nosocomial pathogen that leads to a broad range of human infections resulting in high morbidity and mortality. Due to unpredictable MDR patterns of Acinetobacter spp., it is imperative to know the institutional prevalent susceptibility profiles of these residing pathogens. The objective of this study was to determine the antimicrobial susceptibility pattern of Acinetobacter species over the last 8 years in a tertiary care hospital in Lahore, Pakistan.Material and Methods: A retrospective study was carried out in Lahore General Hospital, a tertiary care hospital in Lahore, Pakistan. Eight-year data was gathered from January 2012 to December 2019. All specimens were handled according to standard operating procedures in the microbiology laboratory of the Pathology department of Lahore General Hospital. The Acinetobacter spp. were identified in the laboratory by Gram staining, oxidase test, catalase test and Triple sugar iron fermentation and their antibiotic sensitivity pattern was noted.Results: The highest yield of Acinetobacter spp. from the clinical specimen was isolated from pus followed by tracheal secretion, blood, and urine in the last three years (from 2017 to 2019). Most of the isolates were multi-drug resistant (MDR). There was a progressive increase in resistance of Acinetobacter spp. The highest progression in resistance was observed among the cephalosporin and quinolone group of antibiotics.Conclusions: Increased resistance to commonly used antimicrobials against Acinetobacter species has been observed with the highest resistance to quinolones and cephalosporins.