Bacterial resistance to antibiotics growing: Study

A large number of patients in India may no longer benefit from carbapenem, a powerful antibiotic administered mainly in ICU settings to treat pneumonia and septicemia, as microbes have developed resistance to them, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) said in a study.

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E Coli showed poor susceptibility to antibiotics, including cefotaxime, ceftazidime, ciprofloxacin and levofloxacin. The ICMR report pointed out that there was a concerning rise in resistance to critically important antimicrobials (CIAs) and highest priority critically important antimicrobials (HPCIAs), which are essential for treating serious human infections.

The report presents data from January 1, 2023 to December 31, 2023. It is based on the analysis of 99,492 culture-positive isolates from various specimens, including blood, urine, superficial infections, the lower respiratory tract, deep infections, sterile sites and faeces. Seudomonas aeruginosa, which causes blood, ear, eye and urinary tract infections, showed a gradual increase in resistance to imipenem (a class of medications known to cure bacterial infections), rising from 26 per cent in 2017 to 38.5 per cent in 2023; and meropenem, an antibiotic from 31.3 per cent to 34.5 per cent. “Extensive use and abuse of drugs over the last three decades have resulted in a high prevalence of extended-spectrum beta-lactamases and carbapenemases against mutations in organisms,” the ICMR said.