Prevalence of Burkholderia cepacia recovered from clinical specimens in the Zainoel Abidin general hospital, Banda Aceh, Indonesia

Burkholderia cepacia is one of the multiple intrinsic resistant bacteria causing opportunistic infections. The study aimed to determine the distribution of B. cepacia isolates based on types of clinical specimen, hospital wards, and the patient's gender-age and to evaluate their antibiotic susceptibility.

This study involved isolating, identifying, and testing antibiotic susceptibility of B. cepacia isolates recovered from clinical specimens of Dr. Zainoel Abidin general hospital (RSUDZA) Banda Aceh Indonesia during March 2019-March 2022.

In total, there were 3,622 Gram-negative bacterial isolates of 10,192 clinical specimens obtained during the study period and B. cepacia was positively detected in 127 isolates (1.24%). Most of the 127 isolates of B. cepacia were found in blood and sterile body fluid samples (55.11%) followed by urine and pus samples accounting for 23.62% and 13.37%, respectively. The internal medicine wards had the highest number of detected B. cepacia isolates at 28.3%. B. cepacia infections were more common in men (59.05%) and people over 45 years old (41.73%). The bacteria were highly sensitive to the antibiotic ceftazidime (92.7%).

Culture examination of clinical specimens is not required for confirmed infections, despite being essential for appropriate antibiotic treatment. Implementing surveillance programs and judicious use of antibiotics can prevent bacterial transmission.