High Burden of Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria Isolated from Tracheal Culture in a Tertiary Care Institute

Abstract

Introduction: Multidrug resistant bacteria is causing a very serious problem in the proper treatment and management of sick patients in ICU's. Study aimed to find out antimicrobial susceptibility pattern of bacterial isolates from tracheal culture. Material and methods: This study was carried over a period of 6 months from July to December 2017 in the department of microbiology. Total of 470 tracheal aspirates were studied. Each specimen was streaked on 5% sheep blood agar and MacConkey agar. After isolation and identification, sensitivity of selected organisms against different antibiotics was studied Results: Out of 470 tracheal aspirates, 328 samples showed single bacterial growth, 76 were sterile; contaminants were grown in 58 samples and in remaining 8 samples yeast were grown. The incidence of positivity in our study was 83.8%, with gram negative bacteria outnumbering the gram positive ones. Of the 328 samples which showed bacterial growth, Acinetobacter spp 159(40.3) was the most common organism followed by Klebsiella pneumoniae 72(18.2), Pseudomonas spp 46(11.6), Escherichia coli 27(6.8), Staphylococcus aureus 13(3.2), Klebsiella oxytoca 5(1.26), Enterococcus spp 3(0.76), Proteus spp, Citrobacter spp, Providencia stuartii 1(0.25) each. Also XDR (extensively drug resistant) bacteria were isolated at a high frequency (67%) with Acinetobacter spp. being the most common 128(56.6)) followed by Klebsiella spp. 39(17.2) Pseudomonas spp. 38(16.8), and E.coli 12(5.3). Conclusion: Gram negative were main organisms responsible for lower respiratory tract infections in hospitalized patients and the majority of the isolates belong to XDR and MDR category.