Antimicrobial Resistance in Nosocomial Isolates of Gram-Negative Bacteria: Public Health Implications in the Latvian Context

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is one of the most serious threats in modern medicine which requires the constant monitoring of emerging trends amongst clinical isolates. However, very limited surveillance data is available in the Latvian context. In the present study, we conducted a retrospective analysis of microbiological data from one of the largest public multispecialty hospitals in Latvia from 2017 to 2020. AMR trends for 19 gram-negative bacterial (GNB) genera were investigated. During the study period, 11,437 isolates were analyzed with Escherichia spp. (34.71%), Klebsiella spp. (19.22%) and Acinetobacter spp. (10.05%) being the most isolated. Carbapenems like Meropenem and Ertapenem were the most effective against GNBs (3% and 5.4% resistance rates, respectively) while high resistance rates (>50%) were noted against both Ampicillin and Amoxicillin/Clavulanic acid. Enterobacter spp. and Klebsiella spp. showed a significant increase in resistance rate against Ertapenem (p = 0.000) and Trimethoprim-Sulfamethoxazole (p = 0.000), respectively. A decrease in the prevalence of Extended-Spectrum Beta-Lactamase positive (ESBL+) Enterobacterales was noted. Despite the lower prescription levels of the penicillin group antimicrobials than the European average (as reported in ESAC-Net Surveillance reports), GNBs showed high average resistant rates, indicating the role of ESBL+ isolates in driving the resistance rates. Constant and careful vigilance along with proper infection control measures are required to track the emerging trends in AMR in GNBs.