The antibiotic resistance patterns of Pseudomonas aeruginosa strains isolated from blood cultures specimens in the Medical Microbiology Laboratory of Gulhane Military Medical Academy

Determination of the susceptibility profiles of Pseudomonas aeruginosa strains by detecting their antimicrobial resistance patterns is necessary with regard to a current empirical antibiotic treatment in bloodstream infections. The aim of this study was to detect the antimicrobial susceptibility pattern of P. aeruginosa strains isolated from blood cultures between January 2008 and December 2009 at the Training Hospital of Gülhane Military Medical Faculty. Blood cultures were processed by automatized BACTEC 9240 System (Beckton Dickinson, USA). P. aeruginosa strains were identified by conventional methods and automatized systems (BD Phoenix System, Beckton Dickinson, USA). Antimicrobial susceptibility tests were performed by Kirby-Bauer disc diffusion method and automatized systems (BD Phoenix System, Beckton Dickinson, USA) in accordance with the recommendations of Clinical and Laboratory Standarts Institute (CLSI). Forty six P. aeruginosa strains were isolated during the study period. Sixty five per cent of the strains were isolated from the surgical clinics comprising intensive care units. The antimicrobial resistance rates of the microorganisms were found to be 26% for imipenem, 23.9% for meropenem, 10.8% for amikacin, 17.3% for gentamicin, 39.1% for ciprofloxacin, 17.4% for ceftazidime, 41.3% for aztreonam, 15.2% for piperacillin/ tazobactam and 97.8% for cefotaxime. For P. aeruginosa strains isolated the highest antimicrobial susceptibility rate was for amikacin, whereas the highest antimicrobial resistance rate was for cefotaxime.