Antimicrobial Sensitivity Pattern of Isolates from Neonatal Sepsis in Yekatit 12 Teaching Hospital, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Abstract

Sepsis is one of the commonest reasons of neonatal deaths. It is accountable for about 30 - 50% of the whole baby deaths in the developing  ountries. The current study aimed to assess drug susceptibility patterns of isolates from cases of neonatal sepsis. Institution based cross-sectional study was conducted among 132 neonates admitted to Yekatit 12 teaching hospital with the diagnosis of sepsis and who had a positive result for culture and sensitivity test. Data was collected through medical chart review using data abstraction tool. The data was analyzed using excel and reported using descriptive tables. Gram-negative bacteria were the commonest organisms identified 124 (93.9%), followed by gram-positive isolates (6.1%). Klebsiella (87.9%) was the predominant gram-negative bacteria. Of the gram-positive organisms, coagulase negative staphylococci (3.03%) were the commonest pathogen, followed by Staphylococcus aureus (2.27%). Among the gram-negative isolates, overall sensitivity was high to meropenem (96.0%), amikacin (94.3%) and amoxicillin + clavulanate (74.2%) but sensitivity was very low to ampicillin (2.7%), and amoxicillin (7.3%).
Generally, the isolated pathogens were resistant to commonly used antibiotics in the study setting and resistance of gram-positive pathogens  Against penicillins and cephalosporins was also high. Hence, rational and tailored antibiotic use based on the susceptibility data is recommended and regular antibiotic susceptibility surveillance should be conducted.

Keywords: neonatal sepsis, cross-sectional study, antibiotics, culture, sensitivity, resistance