This study was designed for the characterization and establishment of antibiotic susceptibility profiles of non-fermentative gram negative bacteria isolated from hospitalized patients in a tertiary care hospital of Nepal.

A total of 402 non-fermentative gram negative bacteria was isolated in 1486 culture-positive cases from 6216 different clinical samples obtained from hospitalized patients. Among total non-fermentative gram negative bacterial isolates, the highest number was recovered from specimens collected from lower respiratory tract infections (n = 173, 43.0%) of hospitalized patients followed by pus/swab samples (n = 99, 24.6%) and urinary tract infections (n = 49, 12.2%). The most common non-fermentative gram negative bacteria identified were Acinetobacter baumannii (n = 177, 44.0%), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (n = 161, 40.1%) and Burkholderia cepacia complex (n = 33, 8.2%). These bacterial isolates exhibited a higher rate of insusceptibility to beta-lactam antibiotics, fluoroquinolones, and aminoglycosides. On the other hand, all the isolates of P. aeruginosa and A. baumannii were completely susceptible to colistin sulfate and polymyxin B. Among total isolates, 78.1% (n = 314) were multidrug-resistant with a high rate of multidrug-resistant among A. baumannii (91.0%).