Antibiotic resistance of ESKAPE bacteria in acute pharyngitis patients from private clinics in central Malaysia

Abstract

Worldwide, the ESKAPE group of pathogens - Enterococcus faecium, Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Acinetobacter baumannii, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Enterobacter species - are emerging as important pathogens which have acquired resistance towards different classes of antibiotics. Malaysia has also reported high levels of antibiotic resistance among these pathogens, based on prevalence data from hospital patients. However, the prevalence and antibiotic resistance rates of ESKAPE group members in the community are largely unknown. Therefore, this study focuses on acute pharyngitis (AP) patients from private primary care clinics in the Klang Valley, central Malaysia, as AP is the most common infection-associated reason for contact with private primary healthcare providers. Out of 205 patients, 119 were found to harbor ESKAPE group bacteria, where a total of 175 isolates were subjected to antibiotic susceptibility testing. Our results show that the most prevalent ESKAPE group member in this cohort is S. aureus, with one isolate found to be multidrug-resistant towards penicillin V, cefoxitin, erythromycin and azithromycin. We also report the first finding of community acquired resistance to cefotaxime in K. pneumoniae, imipenem in Enterobacter spp. and tetracycline, also in Enterobacter spp., in Malaysia, which were not derived from samples from a hospital setting. In conclusion, this study, which describes antibiotic resistance of community acquired ESKAPE pathogens in the Malaysian private primary healthcare setting highlights the need for a comprehensive centralized reporting system for community acquired antibiotic resistance to complement the Malaysian National Surveillance of Antibiotic Resistance.