ABSTRACT
Introduction:
The leading cause of hospital-acquired infections are the pathogens named by the acronym ESKAPE, which are the initials for the following bacterial: Enterococcus faecium, Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Acinetobacter baumanni, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Enterobacter spp., which have high resistance rates by escaping the action of the antimicrobial.
Objective:
To trace the antimicrobial susceptibility profile of the ESKAPE pathogens in a primary public hospital in the Federal District, Brazil.
Methods:
A cross-sectional, retrospective and descriptive study was conducted by analyzing the corresponding data from January 2010 to December 2015 of samples considered positive to ESKAPE pathogens in order to generate an antimicrobial susceptibility profile.
Results:
Analyzing the Gram-positive bacteria, almost 80% of E. faecium strains were vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) and almost 40% of S. aureus strains were methicillin (oxacillin)-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). It was observed that gram-negative strains (the ESKAPE group) examined in this study have a higher resistance rate to carbapenems than in other studies. In the molecular analysis, four Klebsiella pneumoniae strains were positive to blaKPC gene, three strains to blaNDM and one Acinetobacter baumanni strain was positive to blaOXA-23 gene.
Conclusion:
Studies such as this should be performed periodically in order to evaluate the bacterial susceptibility profile. They demonstrate the importance of implementing strategies to prevent hospital-acquired infections, as well as greater antibiotic prescribing control.
Key words:
microbial sensitivity tests; genes; bacteria
