Introduction: Though, β-lactams have been broadly used as the backbone for treating several bacterial infections, carbapenems are the last line of drug but since 2000, carbapenem resistance due to acquired carbapenemases has emerged and spread particularly from hospital-acquired infections with Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Acinetobacter spp. Objective: To determine the prevalence of MBL in carbapenem resistant A. baumannii from tracheal secretions. Methods: Totally 89 tracheal secretions from Doctors Diagnostic Centre, Tiruchirappalli were collected and processed based on standard procedures. Results: Of 89 tracheal secretions 16 were confirmed as MBL producers by phenotypic methods such as Modified Hodge test 7 (43.8%), Double disc synergy test 9 (56.3%). The antibiotic susceptibility profile showed 100% resistance to ceftriaxone, amoxicillin/clavulanate, co-trimoxazole, meropenem and ofloxacin and 93.8% resistance to ceftazidime, aztreonam, amikacin. Out of 16 isolates, 10 (62.5%) were resistant to both imipenem and meropenem, 6 (37.5%) to imipenem alone. Remarkably, all the 16 MBL producing A. baumannii isolates were MDR. Conclusion: With the growing clinical prominence of A. baumannii and the occurrence of MDR strains, new and novel therapeutics is essential to regulate its spread.
