Frequency of Metallo-Β-Lactamase Among Pseudomonas aeruginosa Isolated from patients In Intensive Care Units and Operating Rooms

Background: P.aeruginosa infection is one of the major health problems in the world. It’s an opportunistic human pathogen that causes serious problems. Usually resistant to several antibiotics, show a particular ability to spread in hospitals. In recent times, Metallo-β-lactamase resistance in this bacterium has imposed some difficulties in treating bacterial infections. This study was a qualitative study, aimed to detect Metallo-β-Lactamase in Carbapenems-resistant P. aeruginosa isolated from inpatients admitted to Intensive Care Unit and Operating Room in different hospitals in Jeddah city, KSA during the period from March 2019 to September 2022.Methods: In this study, a total of (234) were cultured and identified using API 12A/12E. All isolates were subjected to antimicrobial susceptibility testing using Kirby Bauer method, for selected imipenem and meropenem. Results: Out of 234 specimens 154 Pseudomonas aeruginosa were isolated and identified, with different ratios (males, 62.3: females, 37.7), which occurred highest in the adult age group. The highest frequency of isolate 152 (98.7%) was in the intensive care unit while the lowest frequency of isolate 2 (1.3%) was in the operating room. (9%), (5.8%), (10.38%) and (1.2%) were found resistant to imipenem, meropenem, ciprofloxacin and amikacin respectively.Conclusion: Carbapenems have great bactericidal activity against Ps. aeruginosa, while, this notorious pathogen acquisition resistance against these drugs and limited treatment options. Our isolated strains showed a low rate of resistance (9%) and (5.8%) against imipenem and meropenem respectively. Aminoglycoside is crucial for the treatment of various Ps. aeruginosa infections. However, our study showed that (1.2%) of Ps. aeruginosa strains were resistances to amikacin and Ciprofloxacin has been extensively used to treat wide a variety of Ps. aeruginosa infections. While Ps. aeruginosa rapidly acquired resistance to ciprofloxacin that creating a therapeutic challenge. In this study, 10.38% of Ps. aeruginosa was found resistant to Ciprofloxacin. We recommended further studies and a regular monitoring system for the early detection of MBL-producing organisms.