Antibiotic susceptibility profiles of clinical isolates of Pseudomonas aeruginosa from Selayang Hospital, Malaysia

Fifty four clinical isolates of Pseudomonas aeruginosa (P. aeruginosa) were collected from Selayang hospital, Selangor, Malaysia. Thirty six percent of the isolates were identified from pus followed by respiratory tract (22%) and urine (18.51%). All the isolates were re-identified and confirmed as P. aeruginosa in our laboratory. The antibiotic susceptibility profiles of all the isolates were determined using Kirby-Bauer disk diffusion method as recommended by CLSI. Quinolone (ciprofloxacin) was found to be the most active antimicrobial agent with 83.34% susceptibility followed by imipenem (81.49%), aminoglycosides (amikacin, 74.08% and gentamicin, 72.23%), and the beta-lactams (cefepime 62.97%, ceftazidime, 35.19%). Piperacillin showed the maximum resistance (50%) followed by ceftazidime (29.63%). It was also found that, 29% of the P. aeruginosa strains were resistant to one antibiotic, 20% strains were resistant to two antibiotics and 51% were multidrug resistant. P. aeruginosa isolated from blood, urine and sputum showed the highest rate of multidrug resistance.