Pramila ParajuliOjha, Tek Raj2026-07-152026-07-152023https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14540/27204Pseudomonas aeruginosa has become one of the most common cause of hospital and community acquired infections. It is hazardous to worldwide public health because of its great potential to develop antibiotic resistance and also it contain several virulence genes. The objective of this research was to determine the prevalence of P. aeruginosa in clinical settings, examine its susceptibility to antibiotics and detect the presence of virulence genes (toxA, exoY and oprL) in all P. aeruginosa isolates in clinical specimens (urine, sputum, blood, CSF, body fluid, tissue, pus, swab, catheter tip and stool) collected from patients visiting Annapurna Neurological Institute and Allied Sciences. It was a crosssectional study carried out from June, 2022 to December, 2022. Total 1356 clinical specimens were collected and tested bacteriologically using Gram staining, culture techniques and biochemical tests. The modified disk diffusion method was applied to determine the antibiotic susceptibility pattern and conventional PCR was used to evaluate the virulence genes in all the confirmed P. aeruginosa isolates. 40.5% specimens showed bacterial growth in which only 3.02% were identified as P. aeruginosa. Among them, 61% were multidrug resistant and 29.2% were β-lactamase producers. Aztreonam (70.7%) was the most effective antibiotic. The result highlighted that 56.1% isolates were toxA positive, 68.3% isolates were exoY positive and 61% were oprL positive. The strategic interventions are required to stop the emergence and spread of antimicrobial resistance as a result of the isolation of multidrug resistant (MDR) isolates carrying these virulence genes. This study provides data about phenotypic and genotypic properties of Pseudomonas aeruginosa and can be beneficial for the medical staff and the entire community to build a surveillance system and enhance infection control procedures. Keywords: Pseudomonas aeruginosa; antimicrobial resistance; virulence genesen-USPseudomonas aeruginosaVirulence genesThesis