Journal of the Dow University of Health Sciences (Jan 2013)
Sepsis in Infants: Analysis of Bacterial Pathogens and their Antibiotic Susceptibility, A Study at Government Tertiary Care Hospital, Karachi
Abstract
Objective: To assess the frequency of causative bacterial pathogen of sepsis in infant, their antibiotic susceptibility and to determine resistance pattern in commonly used antibiotics. Place and Duration of Study: Central Lab Civil Hospital, Karachi, 6 months. Study Design: Retrospective Descriptive observational study. Patients and Method: All 1414 reports of blood samples send for culture/sensitivity of infants admitted in CivilHospital Karachi during the study period were scrutinized for bacterial pathogen, their frequency, antibiotic susceptibility and resistance pattern. Result: Out of 1414 infants, 604 (42.7%) had positive blood culture. Gram positive bacteria were predominant(54.1%) than gram negative (45.9%). Male: female ratio was found to be approximately 1:0.9. Total 9 organismswere isolated, in which staphylococcus aureus predominates followed by Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Escherichiacoli respectively. The overall sensitivity of the organism to Amikacin and Cefotaxime were 60.87%and 36.67%respectively which are currently in use as empirical therapy in pediatric ward of CHK. The organisms weremost sensitive to Vancomycin (95.54%), Sparfloxacin (94.16%), Linezolid (93.56%), while mostly resistant tokanamycin (56.21%), cephalosporins (55.9%), Gentamycin (54.31%) and amoxicillin (51.11%). Conclusion: Gram-positive organisms were identified as the major threat for sepsis in infants. An emergingpattern of resistance was observed against commonly used antibiotic so there is a need to control the spread ofthese resistant strains through infection control programs and continuous monitoring of drug resistant patterns.
