Increasing Burden of Antibiotic Resistance in Children Suffering from Septicemia in Tertiary Care Hospitals

Abstract Introduction/Objective Invasion of the bloodstream by microorganisms constitutes one of the most serious situations in infectious disease. Children are the most susceptible groups to contract diseases specifically Blood Stream Infections (BSIs). BSIs have been considered to be the main cause of morbidity and mortality in children. It is associated with a high mortality rate of 20%–50%. The emerging causative agents and resistance to various antimicrobial agents are increasing from time to time. Methods/Case Report The present study was carried out to confirm the causative agents and their antibacterial susceptibility pattern in children with septicemia at Tertiary Care Hospitals, Peshawar, KP, Pakistan. This cross- sectional study involved about 873 pediatric patients (≤ 13 years). BACTEC BD 9050 system was used to identify the causative organism, and sub-cultures were done on MacConkey Agar and Blood Agar. The antibiotic susceptibility test was done using the Kirby Bauer Disk diffusion method as per CLSI guidelines. Results (if a Case Study enter NA) Among 873 study subjects 568 (65.06 %) were males followed by 305 (34.93 %) females. Out of the 873 tested blood samples, blood cultures were positive in 83 (9.51%) followed by 122 (13.98%) skin contaminants, and no growth was observed in 668 (76.51%) cases. The majority 43 (51.80 %) of them were neonates (≤ 28 days). Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria constituted 58 (69.87%) and 25 (30.13%), respectively. The most frequent pathogen found was Staphylococcus aureus 54 (65.06 %), followed by Klebsiella spp., E. coli, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa 6 (7.22 %), Salmonella spp. 5 (6.02 %) Enterococcus faecalis 3 (3.61 %), Acinetobacter baumannii 2 (2.40 %) and Staphylococcus epidermidis 1 (1.20 %). In Staphylococcus aureus about 6 (11.11) were MRSA. The majority of bacterial isolates showed high resistance to Ciprofloxacin, Ceftazidime, Cefuroxime, Co-trimoxazole, Cefepime, Cefotaxime, Minocycline, Tobramycin, Cefoxitin and Cephradine that are commonly used in the study area. Conclusion The majority of the isolates were multidrug resistant. These higher percentages of multi-drug resistant emerged isolates urge us to take infection prevention measures and to conduct other large studies for appropriate empiric antibiotic choice.