Enterococci: Emerging Drug Resistant Bacteria In Hospital Acquired Infections At Hospital Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Enterococci are the most common pathogens in hospital acquired infections. Some of them are resistant to Vancomycin(VRE) and some are susceptible to Vancomycin (VSE). The present study was carried out to identify enterococci from clinical cases and to illustrate their clinical features and drug resistance characteristics. Antibiotics susceptibility of the identified bacteria was determined by disk diffusion method and E-test. Drug resistance properties were evaluated against ampicillin, gentamicin, vancomycin, teicoplanin and linezolid. Relating to clinical features, 244 cases of enterococci infected patients were identified at hospital Kuala Lumpur (HKL) Malaysia based on clinical information from the hospital. Of the patients 21% had history of urinary tract infections, 17.2% end stage renal disease, 12.2% sepsis, 8.4% malignancy, 12.2% had head injury and neurological problems, 4.2% diabetes mellitus and other clinical manifestations .In case of Vancomycin resistant enterococci infection, the clinical features of the patients were: end stage renal failure 3/6 (50%) and others with diabetes mellitus, interstitial lung disease and nephrotic syndrome. The patients of the enterococci infections were more prevalent in nephrology-urology unit (39%) and medical wards (including ICU, 23%) The findings would serve as an alert to the clinicians of the emergence of infections by enterococci and encourage implementation of appropriate infection control measures in order to curb further rise in prevalence.