Increase in Penicillin and multidrug resistance in Streptococcus pneumoniae (1993-2016): Report from a tertiary care hospital laboratory, Pakistan

To determine the trend of resistance to antimicrobials in Streptococcus pneumoniae infections, and the impact of new Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute guidelines on 1211 among meningeal isolates. The descriptive observational retrospective study was conducted at the Aga Khan University Hospital laboratory in Karachi, and comprised Streptococcus pneumoniae isolation and antimicrobial susceptibility data over a period of 24 years, from 1993 to 2016, which was compared in terms of pre-2008 and post-2008 data, which was analysed using SPSS 19. Of the 7415 non-duplicate isolates identified, 4700(63.4%) were from male patients and 2,715(36.6%) were from female patients. The overall mean age of the patients was 38±27 years. Penicillin resistance in non-meningeal isolates during the two periods was not significantly different (p>0.05), but a significant rise in penicillin resistance in meningeal isolates was observed in the second period (p