Detection of antimicrobial resistance and extended-spectrum β-lactamase production in Klebsiella pneumoniae strains from infected neonates

The present study was designed to determine the antimicrobial resistance and extended-spectrum p-lactamase (ESBL) activities of Klebsiella pneumoniae strains isolated from the neonatal intensive care unit of Ataturk University Hospital, Erzurum, Turkey. Antibiotic susceptibility of 40 isolates was detected by the standard disk diffusion method according to the National Committee for Clinical Laboratory Standards Guidelines. The double-disk synergy method was used to determine ESBL activity, which is associated with resistance to p-lactam antibiotics. Twenty-four (60%) of 40 K. pneumoniae strains were found to produce ESBL. Of the antibiotics tested, meropenem was found to be the most effective (100%), and ampicillin the least effective (0%). With the increasing incidence of antimicrobial resistance, which poses a clinically significant risk to vulnerable patients, it is important that clinical microbiology laboratories have accurate and timely information concerning the strains of bacteria present to enable them to predict which antibiotics are likely to be effective in treating the infections they may cause.