In vitro ciprofloxacin resistance profiles among gram-negative bacteria isolated from clinical specimens in a teaching hospital.

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the trends of ciprofloxacin resistance pattern in commonly isolated gram-negative bacteria over time in a Saudi Arabian teaching hospital. METHODS A retrospective analysis was carried out for ciprofloxacin resistance patterns of 10089 isolates of gram-negative bacteria isolated from various clinical specimens submitted to microbiology laboratories at King Fahd Hospital of the University (KFHU), Alkhobar, Saudi Arabia during the period January 2002 to August 2005. RESULTS Increase in ciprofloxacin resistance rates in these isolates during the years 2002 and 2005 were as follows: Escherichia coli, 23.85 to 33.1%; Klebsiella pneumoniae, 15.93 to 27.55%; Enterobacter cloacae, 12.32 to 18.05%; Enterobacter aerogenes, 4.16 to 25.64%; Pseudomonas aeruginosa 17.05 to 39.53%, Pseudomonas spp., 20.58 to 58.77%; H. influenzae, 00.00% to 11.11% and H. aegyptius, 00.00% to 1.73%. CONCLUSION There was a gradual increase in resistance from year 2002 to 2005 in most of the gram negative isolates i.e. E. coli, K. pneumoniae, E. cloacae, E. aerogenes, P. aeruginosa and Pseudomonas spp showing that ciprofloxacin is no more a drug of choice for gram negative infections by these microbes.