Objective Antimicrobial resistance among the bacteria present in ready-to-eat foods like vegetable salads is an emerging concern today. The current study was undertaken to investigate the presence of multi-drug resistant extended-spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL) producing E. coli and Salmonella spp. in raw vegetable salads served at hotels and restaurants in Bharatpur. A total of 216 salad samples were collected from three different grades of hotels and restaurants and examined for the presence of E. coli and Salmonella spp. in Microbiology laboratory of Birendra Multiple Campus by conventional microbiological techniques. Results Out of 216 samples, 66 samples (35.2%) showed the presence of Salmonella spp. whereas E. coli was recovered from 29 (13.4%) samples of which 3 samples harbored E. coli O157: H7. Antibiotic susceptibility testing revealed that 9 (13.6%) Salmonella and 4 (13.8%) E. coli isolates were detected as multi-drug resistant. Total ESBL producers reported were 5 (7.57%) Salmonella and 4 (13.8%) E. coli . The study also assessed a significant association between occurrence of E. coli and Salmonella with different grades of hotels and restaurants, personal hygiene and literacy rate of chefs and with the type of cleaning materials used to wash knives and chopping boards (p < 0.05). The findings suggest an immediate need of attention by the concerned authorities to prevent the emergence and transmission of food-borne pathogens and infections antimicrobial resistance among them.

The increasing incidence of methicillin-resistant and biofilm-forming S. aureus isolates in hospital settings is a gruesome concern today. The main objectives of this study were to determine the burden of S. aureus in clinical samples, assess their antibiotic susceptibility pattern and detect biofilm formation and mecA gene in them. A total of 1968 different clinical specimens were processed to isolate S. aureus following standard microbiological procedures. Antibiotic susceptibility test of the isolates was performed by Kirby–Bauer disc-diffusion method following CLSI guidelines. Biofilm was detected through tissue culture plate method. Methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) isolates were screened using cefoxitin (30 µg) discs and mecA gene was amplified by conventional polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Of 177 bacterial growth, the prevalence of S. aureus was 15.3% (n = 27). MRSA were 55.6% (15/27) and 44% (12/27) exhibited multidrug resistance (MDR). There was no significant association between methicillin resistance and MDR (p > 0.05). Both MRSA and MSSA were least sensitive to penicillin (100%, 75%) followed by erythromycin (86.6%, 66.6%). Most of the MRSA (93.4%) were susceptible to tetracycline. All S. aureus isolates were biofilm producers—19 (70%) were weak and only one (4%) was a strong biofilm producer. The strong biofilm-producing MSSA was resistant to most of the antibiotics except cefoxitin and clindamycin. None of the MSSA possessed mecA gene while 8 (53.3%) MRSA had it. More than half of S. aureus isolated were MRSA. High incidence of multidrug resistance along with capacity to form biofilm among clinical isolates of S.aureus is a matter of apprehension and prompt adoption of biosafety measures is suggested to curb their dissemination in the hospital environments.

Background: Clindamycin is regarded as a reserve drug in the treatment of staphylococcal infections. Among few therapeutic alternatives available for treatment of erythromycin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus infections, clindamycin has several advantages but major limitation in its use is the development of resistance resulting in treatment failure. Routine clindamycin susceptibility test may fail to detect such inducible resistance which can be detected by Double disc diffusion test (D-test). The present study was undertaken to determine the incidence of inducible clindamycin resistance among clinical isolates of S. aureus in a tertiary care hospital in central Nepal. Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out among the patients visiting Bharatpur Hospital from September to November 2019. A total of 1279 clinical samples were examined for the identification of S. aureus by standard microbiological procedures. Antibiotic susceptibility testing of the isolates was done by Kirby-Bauer disc diffusion method and all the erythromycin-resistant isolates were subjected to D-test for the phenotypic detection of inducible clindamycin resistance according to CLSI guidelines (2016). Results: S. aureus was recovered from 4.5% (58/1279) samples of which 35 isolates were Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and 23 were multi-drug resistant (MDR). Tetracycline was found to be the most effective antibiotic whereas erythromycin was the least effective. D-test revealed that 39.7% isolates showed iMLSB phenotype, 3.5% showed cMLSB phenotype and 56.8% showed MS phenotype. The percentage of inducible and constitutive resistance was seen higher amongst MRSA isolates compared to Methicillin-Sensitive Staphylococcus aureus (MSSA) isolates. Incidence of S. aureus was found higher among females and in the age group 20-30 years and in pus samples (p<0.01). Conclusions: Routine testing of inducible clindamycin resistance is suggested among the clinical isolates of erythromycin-resistant Staphylococci to avoid treatment failure.

Efflux-pump system and biofilm formation are two important mechanisms Pseudomonas aeruginosa deploys to escape the effects of antibiotics. The current study was undertaken from September 2019 to March 2020 at a tertiary-care hospital in Kathmandu in order to ascertain the burden of P. aeruginosa in clinical specimens, examine their biofilm-forming ability and determine their antibiotic susceptibility pattern along with the possession of two efflux-pump genes-mexA and mexB. Altogether 2820 clinical specimens were collected aseptically from the patients attending the hospital and processed according to standard microbiological procedures. Identification of P. aeruginosa was done by Gram stain microscopy and an array of biochemical tests. All the P. aeruginosa isolates were subjected to in vitro antibiotic susceptibility testing and their biofilm-forming ability was also examined. Presence of mexA and mexB efflux-pump genes was analyzed by Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) using specific primers. Out of 603 culture positive isolates, 31 (5.14%) were found to be P. aeruginosa, of which 55% were multi-drug resistant (MDR). Out of 13 commonly used antibiotics tested by Kirby-Bauer disc diffusion method, greatest resistance was shown against piperacillin-tazobactam 15 (48.4%) and ceftazidime 15 (48.4%), and least against meropenem 6 (19.4%) and ofloxacin 5 (16.2%). Of all 17 MDR isolates subjected to biofilm detection, strong biofilm formation was exhibited by 11 (65%) and 14 (82%) isolates with microtiter plate method and tube method respectively. Out of 17 isolates tested, 12 (70.6%) isolates possessed mexA and mexB genes indicating the presence of active efflux-pump system. Higher number of the isolates recovered from sputum 7 (58.3%) and pus 5 (41.7%) possessed mexA/mexB genes while the genes were not detected at all in the isolates recovered from the urine (p&lt;0.05). This study assessed no significant association between biofilm production and multi-drug resistance (p&gt;0.05). Adoption of stern measures by the concerned authorities to curb the incidence of multi-drug resistant and biofilm-forming isolates is recommended to prevent their dissemination in the hospital settings.

Background: This study was conducted to determine the prevalence and antibiotic susceptibility pattern of the uropathogens among the patients attending Bharatpur Hospital. Methods: A laboratory-based cross-sectional study was carried out among the patients attending Bharatpur Hospital from December 2017 to February 2018. Aseptically collected clean catch mid-stream urine samples from 200 clinically suspected patients were cultured and processed for the identification of the uropathogens in the laboratory using standard microbiological procedures. Antibiotic susceptibility test was performed for all the isolates against commonly used antibiotics using the Kirby-Bauer disc diffusion method according to Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute guidelines 2017. Results: Out of 200 samples collected, 59(29.5%) of the samples showed the presence of pathogens causing urinary tract infection (UTI). Among them, 43(72.9%) were Gram-negative and 16(27.1%) were Gram-positive bacteria. UTI was found to be the most prevalent in females compared to the males and in the age group of 21-30 years. E. coli (72.0%) and Staphylococcus epidermidis (50.0%) were the most predominant Gram-negative and Gram-positive isolates respectively. The isolates were resistant to cefpodoxime (54.2%) and least resistant to gentamicin (10.2%). Twenty (33.9%) isolates were found to be multi-drug resistant (MDR). Conclusions: Higher frequency of antibiotic resistance among UTI patients alerts for continuous surveillance to assure effective control of this infection. Awareness of good hygienic practice especially in females and prudent use of antibiotics in case of infection can be sug-gested. Keywords: antibiotic susceptibility test; E. coli; MDR; urine.