THE PREVALENCE OF CARBAPENEM RESISTANT ENTEROBACTERIACEAE IN THE LOWER NORTH REGION OF THAILAND

Abstract

The emergence and global spread of carbapenemase producers in Enterobacteriaceae has been reported and becoming a major concern in public health worldwide. The emerging of carbapenem-resistance Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) is one of the most important emerging antibiotic resistances in Thailand. In this present study, we determined the prevalence of CRE from 4 hospitals clinical microbiology laboratory includes, Budhachinnaraj hospital, Srisangworn hospital, Uthaithani hospital, Sawanpracharak hospital, entirely located in the lower north region of Thailand. The CRE prevalence was approximately 44.05% and all of CRE isolates were detected for carbapenemase production by phenotypic methods. The detection of carbapenemase production revealed that, the MHT was positive for 25%. Meanwhile, Carba NP was positive for 29.16%. However, this study focused on the simple phenotypic detection methods for carbapenemase detection. The preliminary information documented in this study may offer significant help in the control to reducing the spread of CRE and empirical antibiotic management.