Bacterial Spectrum and Antimicrobial Susceptibility Pattern in Septic Paediatric Patients

Aim: To determine the bacterial spectrum and antibiotic susceptibility pattern of sepsis in paediatric patients

Method: A total number of 18,037 samples were collected from clinically suspected septic patients during May to October 2015 and were processed for microbiological analysis. The organisms were identified using standard microbiological techniques, and antimicrobial susceptibility pattern was determined byKirby Bauer disc diffusion method and reported according to CLSI guidelines.

Results: The frequency of positive cultures was 1711(9.48%) which include 1145(66.9%) male patients and 566 (33.0%) females. There were 918(53.6%) cases of Gram-negative, and 793(46.3%) cases of Gram-positiveinfections were diagnosed. Gram-negative bacteria mainly comprised of Klebsiella species 317(34.5%) and Pseudomonas species 181(19.7%), whereas 635(80.1%) Coagulase-negative Staphylococci were predominant among Gram-positive bacteria followed by 97(11.9%) Staphylococcus aureus. Majority of the Gram-negative bacteria were susceptible to imipenem 710(77.3%), meropenem 619 (67.5%), piperacillin-tazobactam 554(60.4%), sulbactam-cefoperazone537 (58.5%) and amikacin 459(50%) while Gram-positive bacteria were sensitive to vancomycin 761(96%), linezolid 737(93%), amikacin 693(87.3%), teicoplanin 574(72.3%) and gentamicin 435(54%).

Conclusion: Sepsis in paediatric patients was commonly caused by Klebsiella species and Coagulase negative Staphylococci. Imipenem and meropenem showed better sensitivity against Gram-negative bacteria while most of the Gram-positive bacteria were susceptible to vancomycin and linezolid.