Antibiotic Susceptibility Pattern of Pseudomonas aeruginosa Isolates from Wound Infections in a Tertiary Care Centre in South Kerala, India

Multiple antibiotic resistance in bacterial populations is a pervasive and growing clinical problem, which is recognized as a threat to public health. Drug resistance to Pseudomonas sp. has spread to such a level irrespective of the type of patients, that, its pattern of distribution and antibiotic resistance needs to be studied in detail, especially in trauma patients. Of the Gram negative bacilli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa has been of particular interest, the incidence of which in wound infection has increased compared to a decade back. The objective of this study was to know the antibiotic susceptibility pattern of Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates from wound infections. Out of the total of 1404 cases from which pus samples collected, 204 (14.5%) yielded Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates. Among the antibiotics tested, Imipenem was the most sensitive drug, showing susceptibility in 81.3% of the isolates, followed by Piperacillin + tazobactam (76.4%), Meropenem (70.5%) and Piperacillin (67.6%). Fifteen (7.4%) multidrug resistant strains were reported out of the 204 isolations. Increase in resistance to aminoglycosides and fluoroquinolones in this study, prompted evaluation of antibiotic susceptibility pattern of Pseudomonas isolates from clinical samples at regular intervals.