Antimicrobial-resistant Gram-negative colonisation in infants from a NICU in Thailand.

Antimicrobial-resistant Gram-negative bacteria are a major cause of morbidity and mortality in hospitalised neonates in South and South-East Asia. We aimed to determine the dynamics of colonisation with antimicrobial-resistant Gram-negative bacteria amongst infants in a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) in Thailand. From a total of 97 enrolled infants, 52% of neonates were colonised by an extended-spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL) organism at some point during their stay and 64% were colonised by a carbapenem-resistant organism. Rapid acquisition of ESBL-positive and carbapenem-resistant organisms was found. Once colonised with an antibiotic-resistant organism, infants remained so during the remainder of their NICU stay.