GENTAMICIN-RESISTANT KLEBSIELLA SPP AND ESCHERICHIA-COLI IN A NEONATAL INTENSIVE-CARE UNIT

A case of septicemia in a 7-day-old infant with a gentamicin-resistant strain of Klebsiella oxytoca prompted an epidemiological survey in a neonatal unit. Within a 3-month period 7 patients presented with symptomatic infection with gentamicin-resistant gram-negative bacilli. Another 3 patients were asymptomatic and only harboured the organisms in the stool. The aminoglycoside modifying enzyme ANT(2")-a was identified with a probe technique in different gram-negative species indicating the spread of a plasmid. After the replacement of gentamicin with amikacin and the adherence to proper barrier precautions the gentamicin-resistant strains disappeared from the ward.