OBJECTIVE  To analyze the clinical characteristics and drug resistance with Elizabethkingia anophelis to provide scientific basis for clinical rational drug use.

METHODS  Fifty-three E.anophelis strains isolated from patients in a three-A general hospital in Shanghai from Jan. 2022 to Jun. 2024 were investigated. The clinical data and drug sensitivity results were collected and analyzed by SPSS 24.0 and WHONET 5.6 separately.

RESULTS  The average hospital length of stay was (53.62±38.63)d for the 53 patients with E.anophelis. Malignant tumors accounted for 41.51% among the underlying diseases; most patients had once been treated with carbapenems before isolation of the bacteria or broad-spectrum antibiotics ≥3. The E.anophelis strains were mainly distributed in hematology department and from sputum samples (69.81%). The drug resistance rates of E.anophelis to ceftazidime, imipenem, ticarcillin-clavulanate, meropenem, colistin, tobramycin, piperacillin-tazobactam, amikacin and cefepime were more than 80%; the sensitivity rate to minocycline was the highest (96.23%), followed by doxycycline (83.02%), trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (62.26%) and levofloxacin (50.94%), the others were all less than 50%. After clinical therapy, 40 cases improved, 7 discharged or transferred to other hospitals for other reasons, and 6 died.

CONCLUSIONS  E.anophelis is multidrug resistant bacteria, mainly causing respiratory tract infection, especially in patients with underlying diseases and treated with broad-spectrum antibiotics. Most of the strains are sensitive to minocycline and doxycycline, which are the best choice for empirical antibiotic therapy.