Thirteen years of antibiotic susceptibility surveillance of Pseudomonas aeruginosa from intensive care units and urology services in the Netherlands

The purpose of this study was the evaluation of trends in the antimicrobial resistance of Pseudomonas aeruginosa from intensive care unit (ICU) patients and urology patients in the Netherlands. From 1998 to 2010, 1,927 consecutive P. aeruginosa isolates from ICU (n = 1,393) and urology service patients (n = 534) of 14 university and referral hospitals all over the Netherlands were collected and their susceptibility to relevant antibiotics was determined according to the European Committee on Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing (EUCAST) guidelines. Over time, a significant upward trend in the resistance of P. aeruginosa strains collected from ICUs to piperacillin (1.2 % to 10.6 %, p = 0.0175), piperacillin-tazobactam (1.2 % to 12.1 %, p = 0.0008), ceftazidime (1.2 % to 7.8 %, p = 0.0064), cefepime (4.8 % to 6.4 %, p = 0.0166), imipenem (6 % to 19.1 %, p < 0.0001), meropenem (8.3 % to 17 %, p = 0.0022) and ciprofloxacin (13.1 % to 31.2 %, p = 0.0024) was observed, as was the prevalence of multi-resistance (1.2 % to 8.5 %, p = 0.0002). For P. aeruginosa isolates from the urology services, the resistance to imipenem increased (4.1 % to 7.8 %, p = 0.0006) and to ciprofloxacin it decreased (22.4 % to 18.8 %, p = 0.025). Like in other countries, in the Netherlands, an increase in multi-resistant Gram-negatives is observed, suggesting the presence and dissemination of several mechanisms of resistance. Our findings emphasise the importance of local surveillance for the setting up of local antibiotic guidelines and to support optimal empiric therapy. With the observed increase in multi-resistance, the direct testing of alternative antibiotics like polymyxins and fosfomycin is essential. Our data also illustrate the importance of adequate outbreak control measures.