Abstract
Objective: To find the bacterial isolates causing neonatal sepsis and their antibiotic susceptibility patterns.
Methodology: This cross-sectional observational study was done at Department of Pediatrics, Ayub Teaching Hospital, Abbottabad, from June to December 2019. A total of 84 confirmed blood culture positive cases of both genders, aged <28 days and admitted with neonatal sepsis were enrolled. Identified organisms were tested against commonly used antibiotics for susceptibility patterns.
Results: Out of a total of 84 neonates, 54 (64.3%) were boys and 30 (35.7%) girls. Most (50; 59.5%) had gram positive bacterial isolates. Most commonly involved gram positive isolates were Staphylococcus aureus (23; 46.0%) while Klebsiella pneumoniae was the commonest gram negative isolate, found in 13 (38.2%) cases. Overall, causative agent isolates showed highest antimicrobial sensitivity patterns for Linezolid (91.5%), Amikacin (90.8%), Clindamycin (89.5%), Piperacillin Tazobactum (84.8%) and Vancomycin (80.6%) while Amoxicillin (80.8%), Ampicillin (79.7%), Cefotaxime (70.7%) and Ceftriaxone (69.9%) had highest rates of resistance.
Conclusion: Staphylococcus aureus, Staplhylococcus epidermidis and Klebsiella pneumonia were the commonest causative agent for neonatal sepsis. Routinely used empirical antibiotics like Cefotaxime, Ceftriaxone, Ampicillin and Amoxicillin had high rates of resistance.
