Department of Pharmacology, ESIC Medical College, Gulbarga, 585106, India

Department of Pharmacology, ESIC Medical College, Gulbarga, 585106, India

Department of Microbiology, ESIC Medical College, Gulbarga, 585106, India.
Enterococci ,Resistance ,Antibiogram ,Nosocomial infection ,

Enterococci, recognized as opportunistic pathogens, are relatively avirulent in healthy individuals but in recent years have witnessed an increasing interest in enterococci not only because of their ability to cause serious infections like endocarditis, bacteremia and intra-abdominal infections but also because of increasing resistance to many antimicrobial agents. Imprudent use of antibiotics and colonization pressure are the important causes of the drug resistance in enterococci. This study was done with an objective to find out the prevalence and antibiotic susceptibility pattern of E. faecalis and E. faeciumin a tertiary care hospital. This was a retrospective study conducted in a tertiary care hospital in South India, data was obtained from microbiological laboratory from June 2009 to May 2011. Antibiotic susceptibility testing was done by KirbyBauer disk diffusion method on Mueller- Hinton agar and the results were interpreted as per Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute guidelines. The isolation rate of Enterococci was 2.8%. Isolation rate of E. faecalis was more than that of E. faecium. Entercocci was isolated commonly from males and in the age group of 41-60 years. In the present study, maximum resistance was seen with Penicillin and Erythromycin and least with Vancomycin and Linezolid. Since Ampicillin is the drug of choice in treatment of Enterococcal infections, high resistance to Ampicillin is a cause of concern. Resistance to Gentamicin, Rifampicin and Chloramphenicol was 50%. Urinary isolates showed high resistance to Nitrfurantoin. Enteroccous was sensitive to Vancomycin and Linezolid. A definite identification of Enterococci at species level should be done to assess their variable sensitivity pattern and treated accordingly. Periodic antibiogram studies will help in formulating hospital antibiotic policy and early detection of drug resistance.

6 , 1 , 2016