Etiological Profile and Resistance of Bacterial Isolates from Samples of Cerebrospinal Fluid in Kosovo, during the years 2014-2019

Cerebrospinal fluid is a dynamic, metabolically active substance that has numerous important functions. It is considered a valuable diagnostic aid in assessing infectious inflammatory conditions, involving the brain, spinal cord, and meninges. The discovery and use of antimicrobial agents has fundamentally changed medicine from a therapeutic point of view, enabling the treatment of many diseases once considered threatening and deadly. However, after prolonged exposure of various microorganisms to these agents, the development of antimicrobial resistance has been enabled through the adaptive selection mechanism. The emergence of this resistance in the main pathogenic microorganisms is a very problematic and threatening issue in public health, making it a global problem. Resistance of various microorganisms in Kosovo, according to annual reports of CAESAR, compared to other European countries, is quite worrying. It reaches the tops of the lists for high resistance, along with other Balkan countries, such as Serbia, Montenegro, and North Macedonia. The purpose of this research was to define the etiology and level of resistance of microorganisms to antimicrobial agents, which are encountered in invasive samples of cerebrospinal fluid. This research is a retrospective, descriptive type analysis, which includes the data gathered from January 1, 2014 to May 7, 2019. We have a total of 185 bacteria isolated from 1499 isolates, conducted at the National Institute of Public Health in Kosovo. The determination of antimicrobial resistance was performed according to automated systems and the method of disk diffusion.