Bacteriological profile and antibiotic resistance pattern in systemic infection in children

Abstract

Background: Blood stream infections (BSIs) are an important cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. The condition can be life threating in critically ill patients specially in pediatric intensive care unit of the hospital. Emergence of resistance among the bacterial pathogens causing these infections is another issue of the public health concern.Aim:This study was carriedout to knowthespectrum of bacterial pathogens causing BSIs and also to know the trends of resistance among these agentsMaterials & Methods: It was a hospital based retrospective cross-sectional study. The data was collected by reviewing the records of 565 patients admitted to pediatric critical care units of the hospital from March 2020 to November 2020.Results: Out of total 565 blood samples of the patients suspected of bacteremia, admitted to critical care units of the hospital 140 were culture positive. Out of these isolates 74(53%) were Gram positive bacteria (GPB) and 55(39.3%) were Gram negative bacteria (GNB) and 11(7.9%) were non-albicans Candida. The predominant bacterial isolate were Coagulase negative staphylococcus (CoNS) 49(34.5%)followed by Acinetobacter22(15.4%)and Staphylococcus aureus20(14%). The antimicrobial resistance profile of both Gram positive and Gram negative isolates showed a high prevalence of resistance among them.Conclusion: The present study will provide the pediatricians an update on high prevalence of multi-drug resistant isolates in the critical care units of the hospital.