Antibiotic susceptibility Patterns against Upper Respiratory Tract Pathogens in Tertiary Care Hospitals of Lahore, Pakistan

Abstract

Backgrounds In Pakistan, despite the surge in antibiotic consumption scanty of literature evidences exist regarding antibiotic susceptibility patterns in URTIs. Thus, we conducted the study to evaluate the antibiotic susceptibility patterns in URTIs.Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted by collecting 259 culture samples from tertiary care hospitals of Lahore, Pakistan. Using simple random sampling, culture reports of even numbered patient were included as per study inclusion criteria.Results Two hundred sixty samples were processed out of which only 144 (55.4%) samples yielded growth, i-e., 42.7% males and 49% females. In males, the resistance was high against ceftazidime (19.3%), ampicillin (13.1%), ciprofloxacin (11.6%) and gentamicin (10.8%), while in female samples it was significant against cefuroxime (6.9%), ampicillin (5.4%), tobramycin (4.6%) and ciprofloxacin (6.5%). Besides, males were sensitive against imepenem (25.8%), amikacin (22%), ceftazidime (19.3%), ciprofloxacin (19.3%) and piptaz (16.2%), while females were sensitive against amikacin (9.2%), imepenem (9.2%) and ciprofloxacin (6.9%). Overall, carbepenems, imipenem (35%) and meropenem (30.8%), were found highly sensitive followed by aminoglycosides (amikacin; 31.9%), quinolones (ciprofloxacin; 26.3%), piptaz (19.2%) among penicillin and cephalosporin, while resistant was maximum against cephalosporin (ceftazidime; 25.4%) followed by penicillin (ampicillin, 18.5%) and quinolones.Conclusion These data suggested that P. aeruginosa and Klebsiella , were the most frequent bacterial isolates in URTIs of Lahore, Pakistan. These isolates were resistant to ampicillin, cefuroxime and ceftazidime, but were sensitive to carbapenem and aminoglycoside class of antibiotics. Thus, health care professionals, policy makers and drug regulators must devise policies to overcome the menace of growing antimicrobial resistance.