THE MULTI-DRUG RESISTANT BACTERIA: FREQUENCY AND ANTIBIOTIC RESISTANCE LEVELS IN THE REGION OF MARRAKESH, MOROCCO

Abstract

The objective of this study is to establish the frequency of multi-drug resistant bacteria (MDR) isolated at the Avicenne Military Hospital as well as their levels of resistance to antibiotics. This is a retrospective study conducted over 7years (2015 to 2021), at the Avicenne Military Hospital. Were collected all bacteriological samples received for diagnostic purposes, from patients hospitalized for at least 48 hours. The identification of the bacterial strains was based on the study of their morphological, cultural, and biochemical characteristics on the BD Phoenix™ i100 Automated System, which also allows susceptibility testing. Detection of resistance phenotypes was completed by the conventional method of disc diffusion in an agar medium. The interpretation was based on CA-SFM/EUCAST guidelines. The overall frequency of MDR bacteria is 14,3% with a large predominance of extended-spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL)-producing Enterobacteriaceae (54,1%) followed by Acinetobacter baumannii resistant to ceftazidime and/or imipenem (28,1%), methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (9,3%), then Enterobacteriaceae resistant to carbapenems (5,2%), and finally Pseudomonas aeruginosa resistant to ceftazidime and/or imipenem which represented 3.3% of the MDR bacteria isolated. Co-resistance levels in MDR bacteria are high. The increasing frequency of multi-drug resistant bacteria highlights the importance of an appropriate antibiotic strategy and the necessity of the implementation of antibiotic resistance monitoring.