Journal of Clinical & Experimental Pharmacology

Abstract

Antibiotic Susceptibility Pattern of Bacterial Isolates from Patients of Respiratory Tract Infection at 43 Centers in Punjab, Pakistan

Ali I and Butt MA

Respiratory tract infections are the most common diseases that are associated with social burden for the patient. In most cases, treatment is started before the culture sensitivity. Empiric therapy is based on symptoms and the medical practitioner?s experience. Antibiotic resistance has become a serious health problem in the world, and also in Pakistan. This study was conducted to ascertain the current scenario of bacterial susceptibility in respiratory tract infection in order to optimize empiric therapy among people of all groups of ages in Punjab province located in Pakistan. Forty three (43) centers were selected randomly in major cities of Punjab. The numbers of patients investigated in these centers were 311. The study was undertaken from January 2012 to December, 2012. This period spans all seasons in the study areas. Out of 311 bacterial isolates, Klebsiella species have been isolated in 41 cases (13.06%), Escherichia coli 74 (23.57%), Acinetobacter 43 (13.69%), ?-hemolytic streptococcus 15 (4.78%), Pseudomonas species 111 (35.35%), Streptococcus pneumonia 10 (3.18%) and Staphylococcus aureus in 17 cases (5.41%). Gram-positive bacteria were isolated from 42 patients (13.51%) while Gram-negative bacteria were isolated from 269 patients (86.49%). On an average 30 antibiotics of various classes have been tested for the susceptibility of gram-positive bacteria and gram-negative bacteria. 66.25% of the antibiotics tested showed susceptibility to the gram-positive bacteria. Vancomycin showed maximum sensitivity (100%) to gram-positive bacteria followed by Linezolid (97.44%) and Fusidic acid (83.34%). On the other hand 33.44% of the antibiotics tested showed sensitivity to the gram-negative bacteria. Cefoperazone/Sulbactam showed maximum sensitivity (91.39%) to gram-negative bacteria followed by Imipenem (72.75%) and Pipercillin/Tazobactam (71.60%).