Investigating the Frequency of Klebsiella Infection and Drug Resistance Among Inpatients and Outpatients Referring to Amir Al-Momenin Hospital, Gerash, Iran

Background: Klebsiella is a major human pathogen associated with nosocomial infections. Multi-drug resistant Klebsiella isolates have increased in the last decades and therefore, the use of drug resistance tests seems necessary before prescribing antibiotics. Objectives: This study aimed to determine the antibiotic resistance patterns of Klebsiella species recovered from inpatients and outpatients. Methods: This descriptive study was performed on inpatients and outpatients referring to Amir Al-Momenin Hospital, Gerash, Iran, for six months from September 2014 to February 2015. Samples were recovered from different clinical specimens including urine, sputum, wound, blood, and feces. All patients with culture positive for Klebsiella were included and examined for antibiotic resistance using the agar disk diffusion method. Results: After examining 60 samples positive for Klebsiella, it was shown that patients had the highest antibiotic resistance to vancomycin (83.3%), amikacin (71.6%), cephalexin (56.6%), nitrofurantoin (53.3%), ceftriaxone (25%), cefotaxime (25%), trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (21.6%), cefixime (18.3%), nalidixic acid (16.6%), ampicillin (11.6%), ciprofloxacin (10%), and gentamicin (6.6%), in sequence. Klebsiella showed the most sensitivity to ciprofloxacin at 83.3%, cefixime at 75%, and nalidixic acid at 71.6%. Conclusions: This investigation provided necessary information about the prevalence of infections caused by Klebsiella in Gerash region, which can be used by physicians and health care administrators to monitor and control multiple-drug resistance and plan for empirical treatments effective against infections caused by drug-resistant Klebsiella isolates. The obtained results showed that ciprofloxacin to which Klebsiella had the highest sensitivity was the most effective antibiotic.