Antibiotic Abuse and Antimicrobial Resistance in Hospital Environment: A Retrospective Observational Comparative Study.

: Antimicrobial resistance represents a serious problem, and it may be life-threatening in the case of severe hospital-acquired infections (HAI). Antibiotic abuse and multidrug resistance (MDR) have significantly increased this burden in the last decades. The aim of this study was to investigate the distribution and susceptibility rates of five selected bacterial species (, , , and ) in two healthcare settings located in the Apulia region (Italy). : Setting n.1 was a university hospital and setting n.2 was a research institute working on oncological patients. All the enrolled patients were diagnosed for bacterial HAI. The observation period was between August and September 2021. Clinical samples were obtained from several biological sources, in different hospital wards. Bacterial identification and susceptibility were tested by using the software VITEC 2 Single system. : In this study, a higher incidence of multi-drug-resistant was reported (42,2% in setting n.1 and 50% in setting n.2), with respect to the Italian 2019 statistics report (30.3%). All the isolates of and were susceptible to linezolid. All the bacterial isolates of and most of were susceptible to ceftazidime-avibactam. Amikacin and nitrofurantoin represented a good option for treating infections. Multidrug-resistant (MDR) , methicillin-resistant (MRSA) and (VRE) had a lower incidence in the clinical setting, with respect to and : The data obtained in this study can support clinicians towards a rational and safe use of antibiotics for treating the infections caused by these resistant strains, to enhance the overall efficacy of the current antibiotic protocols used in the main healthcare environments.