Abstract
BACKGROUND: Septicemia plays an important role in neonatal morbidity and mortality, especially in developing countries.
OBJECTIVE: To investigate the bacterial pathogens causing neonatal sepsis and their antibiotic susceptibility profile.
METHODOLOGY: A total of 2,685 neonates aged 0–28 days were included in the study. Blood from each neonate was cultured and isolates were identified using standard biochemical tests. Antibiotic sensitivity pattern was analyzed using modified Kirby-Bauer disc diffusion method.
RESULTS: Blood culture positivity was observed in 1,534 (57.1%) samples. Most of the cases (1089 counts - 71%) were of early onset sepsis while 445 (29%) were of late onset sepsis. The incidence of sepsis was higher in males 856 (55.8%) than females 678 (44.2%) with a 1:2 ratio. Similarly, 58.3% of septicemic patients were neonates with low birth weights. Twelve hundred and six (78.6%) isolates were gram negative while 328 (23.4%) were gram positive bacteria. E. coli was the dominant pathogen seen in 811 (52.8%) followed by Staphylococcus aureus 300 (19.5%), Pseudomonas 199 (13%), Klebsiella 102 (6.7%), Proteus 87 (5.7%), Staphylococcus epidermidis 28(1.8%) and Salmonella in 7 (0.5%) samples. All bacterial isolates showed high sensitivity to Imipenem, Enoxacin, Ofloxacin and Ciprofloxacin while low sensitivity was observed for other antibiotics (n = 16). The Proteus species showed high level of multiple resistances to all antibiotics (5.9%).
CONCLUSION: Imipenem, Enoxacin, Ofloxacin and Ciprofloxacin can be used as an effective antibiotic regimen for treatment of bacterial sepsis in neonates.