Epidemiology, risk factors and antimicrobial resistance of Escherichia coli bacteremia

Abstract

Background: Escherichia coli is a common causative of blood stream infection having potentials to produce significant morbidity and mortality. This organism also has the ability to develop resistance against antimicrobial agents. Knowing its epidemiology, risk factors and antimicrobial resistance patterns can help preventing and managing bacteremia caused by this organism. Materials and methods: This was across sectional observational study carried out from February 2017 to February 2018 on 64 blood culture positive Escherichia coli infected patients admitted in Medicine inpatient of a medical college hospital. Age, sex, mode of acquisition of infection, history of prior empiric antibiotic treatment, duration of hospital stay, development of complication were observed and noted. Antibiotic susceptibility test for all isolates was performed by Kirby-Bauer disc diffusion method. Predesigned semi-structured data collection from was used and collected data were analyzed manually and expressed in descriptive statistical terms. Results: Of the 64 enrolled patients, 47(73.43%) were female. Average age of affection was 53.48±20.65 years and increased incidence rates (51.56%) was observed at age >60 years. Infection was communityacquired in 35.84% cases and urinary tract infection was the most frequent (46.3) risk factor. More than eighty seven percent of samples showed resistance to at least one antimicrobial agent and resistance to multiple drugs was associated with complications. Conclusion: Escherichia coli bacteremia has high incidence rates for antimicrobial resistance and mortality. Continuous surveillance and antibiotic susceptibility pattern monitoring is essential to develop regional antibiotic therapy protocols.