Antimicrobial Susceptibility Pattern of Bacterial Pathogens in Our Setup: Ear, Nose and Throat Perspective

With a high prevalence of infections involving the ear, nose, and throat, and the occurrence of drug resistance the antimicrobial susceptibility pattern of bacterial pathogens is of immense importance. Objective: To determine the antimicrobial sensitivity profile of pathogenic bacteria isolated from representative infected areas of patients with ear, nose, and throat infections. Methods: This cross-sectional observational study was conducted at Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) Outpatient Department (OPD), Capital Hospital Islamabad, over two years. The sample included 639 pathogenic bacterial culture specimens, grown from the representative infected ear, nose, or throat of patients who attended ENT outpatients of the hospital. The bacterial cultures were subjected to the standard disc agar diffusion method to know the antimicrobial susceptibility profile. Data collected included the patient’s age, gender, area/ site of infection, bacterial pathogen isolated, and sensitivity to antibiotics. Results: The sample included 49.30% males and 50.70% females and mean age of 30.13±19.24 years. Gram-positive organisms were predominant n=441, (69.01%) with Staphylococcus aureus being the commonest isolate (67.92%) followed by Pseudomonas spp. (26.13%). Gram-positive isolates were sensitive to Cefoperazone+Sulbactam, Ceftazidime, Cefoperazone, Amikacin, Pipercillin+Tazobactam, Vancomycin, Gentamycin, Linezolid, Amoxicillin + Clavulanate, and Ceftriaxone with resistance to Cefixime, while the Gram-negative isolates were sensitive to Vancomycin and Meropenum, Ciprofloxacin, Levofloxacin, Ceftriaxone and Ceftazidime and highly resistant to Cefixime, Cefuroxime, Amoxicillin+Clavulanate and Co-trimoxazole. Conclusions: Since ENT infections are predominated by Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas spp. When unavoidable the empirical therapy should cover these pathogens, however culture and sensitivity studies are justified keeping in view the growing resistance to antimicrobials.