Antibiotic-Resistant Enteric Bacteria in Samples Collected from the Philippine General Hospital

Abstract

Antibiotic resistance among enteric bacteria like Klebsiella, E. coli and Proteus has been a growing health concern especially in developing countries like the Philippines. This great resistance is attributed to the alarming misuse of antimicrobial drugs like ampicillin, chloramphenicol, streptomycin, sulfonamide and tetracycline (ACSSuT). The aim of this study is to detect the prevalence of antibiotic-resistant enteric bacteria from diarrheic stool sample discards provided by the Microbiology Laboratory of the Philippine General Hospital from September to November, 2008. Eight out of 15 stool samples yielded a total of eight enterics and two nosocomial bacterial isolates. The isolates were then characterized, identified and subjected to Antimicrobial Susceptibility Test using the ACSSuT group of antibiotics. All of the isolated enterics were resistant to one or more antibiotics varying in their combinations. The resistance profiles were shown to be: Amp-Str-Tet (37.5%), Amp-Chl-Str-Sul-Tet (25%), Amp (12.5%), Amp-Str-Sul (12.5%), and Chl-Str-Sul-Tet (12.5%). Resistance profiles of the isolated enteric bacteria show that there were more enterics having multiple drug resistance in the PGH which may have an influence on possible hospitalization costs and threats for the patients.