Prevalence and Antimicrobial Susceptibility Pattern of Urinary Enterococcus Isolates in a Tertiary Care Hospital

Background: Multidrug-resistant enterococci are emerging as prevalent nosocomial uropathogens. Before prescribing antibiotics, recent antibiogram of enterococci is essential for patients with urinary tract infection (UTI).Materials and Method: This cross-sectional study was conducted to determine the prevalence and antimicrobial susceptibility pattern of enterococci from urine samples between January 2023 and October 2023 in a tertiary care hospital. Isolation and identification of enterococci were done by standard microbiological procedures, and antimicrobial susceptibility test was performed by the Kirby-Bauer disk diffusion method.Results: Out of 1551 urine samples, 351 (22.63%) were culture positive and enterococci was the second most common (32.76%) isolated uropathogen among Escherichia coli (44.16%), Klebsiella spp. (11.40%), Staphylococcus aureus (3.13%), Enterobacter spp. (2.85%), Pseudomonas spp. (2.56%), Proteus spp. (1.99%), Acinetobacter spp. (0.85%), and Staphylococcus saprophyticus (0.28%). Female predominance (62.6%) was observed in UTI patients infected with Enterococci. Linezolid (92.17%) followed by Vancomycin (86.96%), Nitrofurantoin (82.61%), Ampicillin (75.65%) and Penicillin (63.48%) were found as most susceptible drugs. The enterococci were highly resistant to Tetracycline (60.87%), Ciprofloxacin (53.04%) and Levofloxacin (53.04%).Conclusion: Performing regular susceptibility tests could help in establishing preventative measures and treatment protocols for enterococcal infection. J Med Coll Women Hosp.2024; 20(2): 37-43