Bacteriological Profile and Antimicrobial Susceptibility Pattern in IPD Patients: A Longitudinal Study from a Tertiary Care Centre of North India

Background: Bacterial infections exhibit a rising trend over past years around the globe in almost every clinical setting. Bacterial infections contribute to mortality and morbidity in infected patients. Due to lack of information regarding bacterial strain responsible for infection, clinician generally tends to prescribe the patients broad spectrum antibiotics which in turn enhance the antibiotic resistance. Nowadays antibiotic resistance is a prominent concern over the globe and every effort from the health agencies has been put forward for rationale use of antibiotics. Objective: Present study was aimed to study bacterial isolates and their antimicrobial susceptibility patterns in indoor patient department from a tertiary health care center of north India. Methods: The various bacterial isolates isolated from different samples were collected for two year from September 2021 to September 2023 from a tertiary care centre of north India. All samples were processed in accordance with accepted laboratory practises for microbiology. The isolates were identified down to the species level and antimicrobial susceptibility tests were carried out in accordance with the Clinical Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI-2021) recommendations. Result: Among total 2089 samples, 629 samples were positive for bacterial isolates. Among total 629 samples, 443 (70.4%) isolates were gram negative bacteria and 186 (29.6%) isolates were gram positive bacteria. Among gram negative bacteria, Escherichia coli was the most common bacteria identified in 273 (43.4%) samples and among gram positive bacteria, Staphylococcus aureus was the most common bacteria identified in 133 (21.14%) samples. The Enterobacteriaceae group showed highest sensitivity against carbapenems and piperacillin-tazobactam. Highest sensitivity among all gram-positive bacteria was noted against vancomycin and linezolid. The screening of methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus with cefoxitin disc showed 52.6% (70) sensitivity. Conclusion: The accurate determination of susceptibility patterns aids in guiding appropriate antibiotic therapy, optimizing patient outcomes, and combating the emergence of antimicrobial resistance. Continuous monitoring of resistance patterns and implementation of infection control measures are essential for effective patient management in the IPD.