Profile of Antimicrobial Resistance at Jinja Regional Referral Hospital between January to July 2021

CONFLICT OF INTEREST 

The authors work at the facility as full-time employees and they were involved in generation of the analyzed data.

INTRODUCTION

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) data in Africa is scarce since many countries have not been doing AMR surveillance but it is estimated that up to 8 million people die from AMR related infections per year. Jinja regional referral hospital laboratory was activated in 2018 to participate in the Global antimicrobial resistance surveillance systems (GLASS) and the site has been compiling data on bacterial profiles and antimicrobial susceptibility. This study was aimed at determining the most commonly encountered bacterial species and their antimicrobial susceptibility profile for proper patient care on a large scale.

METHODS

This was a cross-sectional laboratory-based study. Bacterial isolation was done using conventional identification methods. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing was carried out using the disk-diffusion method according to the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) guidelines. Quality control was carried out at every procedure involved in generation of the final result. WHONET software was used for data analysis.

RESULTS

The commonest isolated organisms were S.aureus 34 (17.6%), E.coli 32 (16.6%) other coliforms 31 (16.1%), candida Spp 15 (7.8%),citrobacter spp 9 (4.7%), pseudomonas spp 8(4.1%), and K. pneumoniae 7(3.6%) The resistance pattern for Gram positive cocci (N=35) were penicilin G 100%, erythromycin 71.9%, ciprofloxacin 56.2%, cefoxitin 58.3%, clindamycin 33.3%, gentamicin 19.2%, cotrimoxazole 80%, tetracycline 100%, and chloramphenicol 20%.The resistance pattern for enterobacteriaceae (N=99) was ampicillin 65%, ciprofloxacin 42.4%, chloramphenicol 33.3%, ceftriaxone 30.3%, ceftazidime 27.3%, gentamicin 24.2%, cotrimoxazole 16.2%, etrapenem 13.1%, cefotaxime 11.1%, tetracycline 8.1%, nitrofurantoin 4%, Amikacin 4% and imipenem 0%.

CONCLUSION

High levels of AMR to commonly-used antibiotics were reported, including upto 65% resistance to ampicillin, Penicilin(100%), upto 58.3% MRSA, emerging resistance to gentamicin (up to 24.3%) and relatively high levels of resistance to ceftriaxone (30.3%).

RECOMMENDATIONS

A bigger study should be done in all health facilities across the region to establish the drivers of resistance and general AMR picture since nothing about the two is currently known.