Background: Pseudomonas aeruginosa is an important opportunistic pathogen. It is frequently resistant to many commonly used antibiotics and develops easily resistant forms. Colonization with this organism often precedes infection, and its prevention is, therefore, critical. There is no information on molecular epidemiological investigation of outbreaks caused by P. aeruginosa in Kosovo.
Materials and methods: The present investigation was carried out to enlighten molecular epidemiology of P. aeruginosa in University Clinical Center of Kosovo (UCCK) using pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE). During our study period, 80 isolates of P. aeruginosa were included. The overall antimicrobial susceptibility pattern showed a high level of resistance against amino-glycosides and the lowest against carbapenems. Forty isolates of P. aeruginosa were subjected to genotyping, of whom 31 (77.5%) were male patients and nine (22.5%) were female patients.
Results: The most common diagnosis upon admission was polytrauma, sepsis, and coma cerebri. Majority of the patients were in mechanical ventilation (76.2%). Bacterial isolates were most frequently recovered from respiratory tract specimens (60%) and wounds (22.5%). Majority of the samples were recovered from intensive care unit (ICU) (47.5%). The length of ICU stay was higher compared to patients from other units. Genotype analysis of P. aeruginosa isolates identified seven distinct PFGE patterns, with the predominance of PFGE clone A (40%) and PFGE clone N (12.5%). All of these isolates were indistinguishable. The appearance of the indistinguishable genotypes supports the possibility of a cross and horizontal transmission of P. aeruginosa due to insufficient preventive measures.
Conclusion: The results emphasize the need for strict infection control measures to prevent the nosocomial transmission of P. aeruginosa in our hospital.
Keywords: ICU; P. aeruginosa; genotyping; nosocomial infection; pulsed-field gel electrophoresis.