Long-term study finds high antimicrobial resistance in last resort antibiotics

New Delhi: Antibiotic resistance is a long-debated topic and a major public health concern at the current time. According to the latest study, a high level of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) has been detected against both the primary and reserved antibiotics. It is a 13-year-long study and it is still ongoing at BJ Medical College (BJMC) and Sassoon General Hospital (SGH) have reported incidents of drug-resistant to colistin (polymyxin) and carbapenems (beta-lactams). These are the two last-resort antibiotics used against the multi-drug and extensively drug-resistant pathogens apart from other antibiotics that were reserved.

The study conducted in the BJMC is a part of the National Centre for Disease Control’s (NCDC)- Ministry of Health and Family Welfare National AMR surveillance programme. This campaign began at BJMC in 2013 making it the second centre in the country after Safdarjung Hospital, Delhi. Under this project, about 40 premier healthcare institutes in India are part of the NCDC’s National AMR Surveillance Network.

Pathogens like E.coli and salmonella were examined in the study

The study noted that pathogens such as E. coli, Klebsiella, Pseudomonas, Acinetobacter, Salmonella, Staph aureus and Enterococcus were examined and their anti-susceptibility test was conducted.

What is antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST)?

It is a test that determines which antibiotics or other antimicrobial drugs are effective against a specific bacteria or fungi. Similarly, the NCDC study helps to make an antibiogram of pathogens that empirical treatment can be instituted by treating doctors. While conducting the study the researchers alerted about the pathogens like Colistin Resistant GNB (Gram-negative bacilli), Linezolid Resistant GPC (Gram Positive Cocci), Vancomycin-Intermediate S. aureus (VISA) and Vancomycin-Resistant S. aureus (VRSA) and Ceftriaxone Resistant Salmonella were detected. These pathogens are found to be dangerous and if they are detected in the hospital setting then they need to be notified first.