Isolation and Antimicrobial Susceptibility Patterns of Bacterial Pathogens Causing Respiratory Tract Infections in Children

This study aimed to isolate bacteria from children infected with upper and lower respiratory bacterial infections and study antibiotic sensitivity patterns of isolated bacteria. This cross-sectional study involved 120 pediatric participants, 71 males and 49 females. Individuals were divided into three groups: severe, moderate, and mild, diagnosed by pediatricians. Acute infections of nose, throat, and larynx characterized upper respiratory infections; on other hand, chest pains, a protracted cough, copious sputum, dyspnea, fever, and weight loss were the hallmarks of lower respiratory infections. Pediatrics who were clinically suspected of having respiratory infections had their throat and sputum samples taken aseptically. The samples were then cultured in blood agar, MacConkey agar, and chocolate agar. Colony morphology and Gram stain were used to identify bacterial isolates, and biochemical testing was used to corroborate results. Agar disc diffusion method was used to determine the antimicrobial susceptibility profile. Results of the current study showed that lower respiratory tract infections (71.7%) are more prevalent in investigated children than upper respiratory tract infections (28.3%). Bacteria could cause severe respiratory diseases, such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa 26 (21.6%) and Klebsiella pneumonia‏ 24 (20%), wheras strep. Pneumonia 18 (15%) and Haemophilus influenza 20 (21.6%) were more repeated bacteria associated with moderate respiratory diseases. However, in mild cases, Streptococcus pyogen is the most prevalent bacterium. Largest proportion (30%) of children who took part belonged to age group of 10–14 years, with 27.5% falling within 1-4 year category, 21.7% within the 5-9 year group, and 20.8% under the age of 1 year.