Prevalence and Antimicrobial Susceptibility Pattern of Bacterial Agents Involved in Lower Respiratory Tract Infection at a Tertiary Care Hospital, Jaipur, Rajasthan, India

Abstract

Introduction: Lower Respiratory Tract Infection (LRTI) is one of the commonest health problems which is not a single disease but a group of specific infections with varying aetiology and symptomatology. These infections are the leading cause of illness and mortality in children and adults across the world because of different epidemiology, pathogenesis, clinical presentation, and outcomes. Aim: To find out the prevalence, bacteriological profile and antimicrobial susceptibility pattern of clinical isolates causing LRTI. Materials and Methods: This was a laboratory based observational study which was carried out between June 2019 to May 2020. All the lower respiratory tract samples (sputum, Endotracheal (ET) aspirate, Bronchoalveolar Lavage (BAL) etc.,) were collected and sample processing was done for isolation and identification by standard methods and antimicrobial susceptibility testing was done using Kirby Bauer disc diffusion method. The data was analysed in Microsoft Office excel worksheet. Results: A total number of 1364 samples were processed in which 615 were culture positive. ET aspirates 65.04% (n=400) showed higher positivity rate than sputum 32.03% (n=197). In this study, gram positive and gram negative bacteria (GNB) were 4.23% (n=26) and 92.19% (n=567) respectively with yeast recovered in only 3.58% (n=22) of the specimens. Among the isolates, Klebsiella pneumoniae 171 (30.15%) was the most common organism. The overall susceptibility of GNB was highest towards tigecycline (51.85%) followed by gentamicin (38.62%). Conclusion: Specific antibiotic utilisation strategies like antibiotic restriction, combination therapy may help to decrease or prevent the emergence of resistance. There is a need for further community based studies to identify the best treatment protocol for individual patients.

Keywords

• endotracheal aspirate
• klebsiella pneumoniae
• sputum culture