Study finds that in contrast to developed countries that kept resistance levels under control, a considerable increase in resistance to various classes of antibiotics occurred in ESKAPE pathogens in India over the 2010-2020 decade. The study is published in the International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents.
The ESKAPE pathogens (Enterococcus faecium, Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Acinetobacter baumannii, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Enterobacter species) are critical not only because they cause the majority of nosocomial infections, but also because they represent transmission, pathogenesis, and resistance paradigms. The ESKAPE microorganisms are included in the list of “high priority pathogens” of the World Health Organization (WHO) “pathogen priority list,” with the most critical sub-group corresponding to MDR bacteria that cause a particular threat in hospitals.
The study analysed the data collected during an extensive literature survey of the 2010–20 decade on the antibiotic resistance trends in these ESKAPE pathogens in India supported by the prevalence of β-lactamase activities and genes. The studied time period was divided into two sub-periods to facilitate the task of tracking the spread of antimicrobial resistance.
In this study, compilation of the results from 89 scientific articles reporting various kinds of ESKAPE infections over the whole Indian territory revealed a global increase in AMR in both Gram-negative and Gram-positive ESKAPE bacteria over the 2010–20 decade.
