Antimicrobial susceptibility testing and patterns of resistance at a tertiary care center

Abstract

Clinical microbiology laboratories are faced with the challenge of accurately detecting emerging antibiotic resistance in bacterial pathogens. In recent years, vancomycin resistant enterococci have emerged, as have penicillin resistant pneumococci and more recently, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus with reduced susceptibility to vancomycin. In order to detect these emerging resistant pathogens it is essential that antimicrobial susceptibility be carried out by laboratories as an integral part of therapeutic strategies. In this review, we discuss patterns of susceptibility of different antimicrobials as experienced at King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre, a tertiary care center in Riyadh.