TITLE:
Serratia marcescens as Opportunistic Pathogen and the Importance of Continuous Monitoring of Nosocomial Infection in Makah City, Saudi Arabia
AUTHORS:
Hani S. Faidah, Sami S. Ashgar, Abeer A. A. Barhameen, Hamdi M. El-Said, Abdelrahman Elsawy
KEYWORDS:
Serratia marcescens, Antimicrobial Resistance, Nosocomial ?nfection
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Medical Microbiology,
Vol.5 No.3,
August
13,
2015
ABSTRACT: The aim of this study was to the evaluation of frequency and distribution of Serratia marcescens in the hospital departments and determination of antimicrobial resistance of the isolated strains. Methods: The study included 81 Serratia marcescens strains isolated from 61 patients hospitalized in the in the different hospital wards of Al-Noor Specialist Hospital within the period from 1/11/2012 to 1/11/2013. The strains were isolated from wound swabs, blood cultures, sputum, urine culture, fluid, catheter and throat swab, wound swabs, blood cultures and cerebrospinal fluid. Results: The isolates were identified by conventional method and the results and susceptibility testing were confirmed by VITEC-2 Compact. Most frequently Serratia marcescens has been implicated in ICU [21%] followed by male medical [18.5%] and emergency department [12.3%]. The resistance of Serratia strains was high, excepting imipenem (15%), Meropenem (27) and the resistance was higher with ampicillin (97.5%), Cefoxitin (90%) and Tetracycline (86%). Conclusion: Continuous monitoring of nosocomial infections is indispensable. Phenotypic characterization of the isolates is useful for studying the relationship of microbial pathogens.