8 Introduction 9Enterobacteriaceae, the normal dwellers in the human intestine, commonly associated with a 10 variety of community acquired and nosocomial infections. Emerging trend of antibiotic 11 resistance among these strains is a notable issue globally; more serious threat is the resistance 12 against the available last resort antibiotics-the carbapenems. Our study thus intended to 13 determine the burden of resistance towards this ultimate antimicrobial class, so as to assist in the 14 empiric therapeutic decision making process and to search for alternate options.
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Materials and Methods
16Our study was a cross-sectional study with inclusion of clinical isolates collected from varied 17 sources, from health settings in upper Assam. The isolates were identified based on standard 18 methods of morphology study and biochemical tests. The identified isolates were then subjected 19 to antibiotic susceptibility testing following Kirby-Bauer disc diffusion method and the result 20 interpreted as per the CLSI guidelines. The resistance of the reported carbapenem resistant 2 21 isolates was confirmed by minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) determination using 22 commercial E-strip kit.
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Results
24Among the enterobacterial isolates Klebsiella spp. accounted the majority, followed by 25 Escherichia coli, Citrobacter spp., Shigella spp. and others. Multi-drug resistance (MDR) was 26 noted among 67.6% isolates; however, carbapenem resistance was confirmed in 18.9% of the 27 total Enterobacteriaceae isolates. 28 Conclusion 29 Higher prevalence of resistance towards the last resort antimicrobial, carbapenems, among the 30 Enterbacteriaceae isolates of upper Assam seems to be upcoming threat to the region, limiting 31 the treatment options in future. 32 33 37 Resistance towards different classes of existing antibiotics, among the members of 38 Enterobacteriaceae, is an alarming issue worldwide [3]. Carbapenems are a powerful group of 39 broad spectrum beta-lactam antibiotics which, in many cases are our last effective defense 40 against multi-drug resistant (MDR) and extended spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL) bacterial 41 infections [4, 5]. Increased use and misuse of most of the beta-lactam antibiotics and 3 42 carbapenems, resulted in the emergence of Carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) 43 with worldwide presence [2, 6, 7]. 44 CRE have been associated with high mortality and morbidity rates of up to 40-50% reported in 45 some studies [8]. Several studies on CRE had been conducted in India from time to time; 46 however, there are limited reports on the prevalence and distribution of CRE from the North-47 East region. A study from Manipur reported 30% of the Gram-negative isolates obtained from a 48 tertiary care hospital were resistant towards carbapenem [9]. 49 Our study thus aimed to bridge the gap of the prevalence data on carbapenem resistance among 50 the Enterobacteriaceae isolates obtained from different health settings of upper Assam. 51 Methods 52 The study was a cross-sectional laboratory based stud...