Plasmid Mediated AMP C Lactamase Producing Gram Negative isolates in Neonatal Septicemia

The most common causes of death in neonatal period is infection (32%) followed by birth asphyxia (29%) and prematurity (24%).Neonatal infections currently cause 1.6 million deaths in developing countries (Choudhury et al., 2007). Multidrug resistant Gram negative bacilli belonging to the family Enterobacteriaceae have been increasingly responsible for infections among the neonates admitted to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit in many countries including India and Klebsiella pneumoniae constitutes a majority of these pathogens (Krishna et al., 2007). The most common mechanism of resistance in Gram negative bacteria is by the production of ß lactamases which inactivate lactam antibiotics. Among the lactamases, Extended Spectrum lactamases (ESBL) and AmpC -lactamases are most commonly produced. AmpC lactamases are more important because they confer resistance to narrow, expanded, broad-spectrum cephalosporins, lactam lactamase inhibitor combinations and aztreonam, Earlier the AmpC -lactamases were ISSN: 2319-7706 Volume 4 Number 8 (2015) pp. 391-398 http://www.ijcmas.com