Evaluation of Antibiotic Treatment Outcomes in Patients with Multidrug-Resistant Bacterial Infections in the South-Eastern Region of Maharashtra, India

Abstract

Multidrug-resistant (MDR) bacterial infections complicate antibiotic treatment by increasing the risk of delayed effective therapy, prolonged hospitalisation, treatment failure and mortality. This meta-analysis focuses on evidence relevant to patients from rural areas of the Marathwada region in the South-Eastern Region of Maharashtra, India. It synthesises recent evidence on clinical cure, microbiological clearance, mortality, treatment failure, time to effective therapy, rapid diagnostics and antimicrobial stewardship, while incorporating available regional studies of bacterial profiles and resistance patterns. Published studies from Marathwada and Maharashtra indicate that resistant Gram-negative organisms, including Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Acinetobacter spp. and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, are important clinical concerns. However, available regional studies differ in setting, sample size, specimen type and period; their figures should therefore be treated as contextual evidence rather than as direct estimates for rural patients across Marathwada. No original patient-level dataset from the target rural population was supplied for this meta-analysis. Accordingly, the paper does not present regional patient outcomes or prevalence estimates as if they had been collected by the authors. The meta-analysis highlights the need for local hospital antibiograms, timely culture and susceptibility testing, referral pathways for rural patients, and prospective studies with standardised clinical and microbiological outcomes.