Susceptibility patterns of anaerobes isolated from clinical specimens in tertiary Hospital, Malaysia

A few anaerobic studies have identified varying incidence rates as well as anaerobic resistance trends, which differ according to anaerobe species and geographical region.2 There is a growing incidence of antimicrobial resistance among anaerobes globally making the in vitro sensitivity of anaerobes towards antimicrobial agents no longer predictable. [...]continuous surveillance of the susceptibility patterns of anaerobes should be emphasized to ensure the appropriateness of therapy.3 Limited data is available on the resistance trends of anaerobes in Malaysia. [...]this present study aims to determine the antimicrobial susceptibility patterns of anaerobes isolated from clinical specimens in a hospitalised patient at a tertiary hospital in Malaysia. Penicillin resistance was found in 18.7% Propionibacterium spp. isolates, 27.3% of other Gram-positive rods, and 36.4% of Gram-positive anaerobic cocci (GPAC). DISCUSSION The proportion of anaerobes in this study is much lower (0.83%) compared to that recorded by the Japanese Society of Chemotherapy and the Japanese Association for Infectious Diseases, which reported 7% to 8% of anaerobes isolated from all clinical specimens, respectively.5 The low proportion might be due to the fact that other studies may have used different types of clinical specimen and different methods of isolate identification. Besides that, there is a lack of request for anaerobic bacteria culture among clinicians.