NEONATAL SEPTICAEMIA: BACTERIAL ISOLATES & THEIR ANTIBIOTIC SUSCEPTIBILITY PATTERNS

Aims: 1) To know the etiology of septicaemia in neonates. 2) To detect the antibiotic susceptibility of their isolates. Materials and Methods: Blood specimens for culture were drawn from 729 newborns admitted in NICU, Sri Venkateswara Ramnarayana Ruia Government General Hospital, S.V.Medical College, Tirupati during March 2015 to August 2015 with sepsis. The specimens were inoculated into Brain Heart Infusion broth & subcultures were performed. The isolates were identified by standard biochemical tests. Antibiotic susceptibility patterns of isolates were identified by Kirby Bauer disc diffusion method. Results : A total of 53(7.27% ) organisms were isolated. These included Klebsiella (22, 41.54%), S.aureus (17, 32.07%), Candida (8, 15.09%), E.coli (4, 7.54%), Pseudomonas (1, 1.88%), Moraxella (1, 1.88%). Majority of organisms isolated were resistant to commonly used antibiotics. Klebsiella showed maximum sensitivity to Levofloxacin (85.7%). S.aureus showed maximum sensitivity to Levofloxacin (100%) & Cefotaxime (88.8%). E.coli showed maximum sensitivity to Amikacin, Gentamycin, Ciprofloxacin, Imipenem, Amoxyclav i.e., 100%. Conclusion: Multi drug resistance organisms were isolated from septicaemia in neonates. Therefore great caution is required in selection of antibiotic therapy.