Epidemiological study of pathogens isolated from blood in Liguria during 2011

• Published in: Microbiologia Medica Vol. 27; no. 2
• Main Authors: Ramona Barbieri, Erika Coppo, Luigi Carlo Bottaro, Paolo Piazzai, Orietta Illiberi, Pier Andrea Dusi, Rita Revello, David Usiglio, Marco Mori, Silvia Reali, Gian Luigi Devoto, Luisa Santoriello, Agostina Ronca, Anna Marchese, Eugenio A. Debbia
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: PAGEPress Publications 30-06-2012
• Subjects: Blood culture, Drug resistance, Bacteraemia
• ISSN: 2280-6423
• DOI: 10.4081/mm.2012.2313

Objectives. An epidemiological study addressed to identify the most represented pathogens isolated from blood and to evaluate their antibiotic susceptibility patterns, was conducted. Methods. Five clinical microbiology laboratories, homogenously distributed in Liguria, were required to collected all consecutive non-duplicates strains isolated from blood cultures during March 2011 to May 2011. the strains were sent to the reference laboratory (Section of Microbiology, DISC, University of Genoa, Italy). Results. A total of 159 microorganisms were enrolled, including 81 Gram positive, 69 Gram negative and 9 fungi.The most represented pathogens were: Escherichia coli (35), Staphylococcus aureus (26), S. epidermidis (20), S. hominis (10). Samples were collected mainly from medicine (59 isolates).Among the staphylococci, the most active molecules were: vancomycin (100% of susceptible strains), teicoplanin (93.4%), trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (83.8%) and tobramycin (61.6%). Enterococci showed rates of resistance to vancomycin of 25%. Enterobacteriaceae exhibited resistance to ampicillin (76.9%), ceftriaxone (44.4%), ciprofloxacin (43.3%), trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (36.6%) and ceftazidime (32.2%). Conclusions. The data show a higher incidence of Gram positive (51%) in comparison to Gram negative (43.4%). Gram-positive strains showed a high resistance level to fluoroquinolones (92.3%) while Gram-negative resulted resistant to ceftriaxone (44.4%) and fluoroquinolone (43.3%).