Surveillance of Antibiotic Resistance among Hospital- and Community-Acquired Toxigenic Clostridium difficile Isolates over 5-Year Period in Kuwait

Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) is a leading and an important cause of diarrhea in a healthcare setting especially in industrialized countries. Community-associated CDI appears to add to the burden on healthcare setting problems. The aim of the study was to investigate the antimicrobial resistance of healthcare-associated and community-acquired C. difficile infection over 5 years (2008-2012) in Kuwait. A total of 111 hospital-acquired (HA-CD) and 35 community-acquired Clostridium difficile (CA-CD) clinical isolates from stool of patients with diarrhoea were studied. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing of 15 antimicrobial agents against these pathogens was performed using E test method. There was no evidence of resistance to amoxicillin-clavulanic acid, daptomycin, linezolid, piperacillin-tazobactam, teicoplanin and vancomycin by both HA-CD and CA-CD isolates. Metronidazole had excellent activity against CA-CD but there was a 2.9% resistance rate against HA-CD isolates. Ampicillin, clindamycin, levofloxacin and imipenem resistance rates among the HC-CD vs. CA-CD isolates were 100 vs. 47.4%; 43 vs. 47.4%; 100 vs. 100% and 100 vs. 89%, respectively. An unexpected high rifampicin resistance rate of 15.7% emerged amongst the HA-CD isolates. In conclusion, vancomycin resistance amongst the HA-CD and CA-CD isolates was not encountered in this series but few metronidazole resistant hospital isolates were isolated. High resistance rates of ampicillin, clindamycin, levofloxacin, and imipenem resistance were evident among both CA-CD and HA-CD isolates. Rifampicin resistance is emerging among the HA-CD isolates.