"Neonatal Sepsis": Bacteria & their Susceptibility Pattern towards Antibiotics in Neonatal Intensive Care Unit

Neonatal sepsis is one of the most common causes of neonatal mortality and morbidity, particularly in the developing countries. Its causative bacteria and their respective sensitivity patterns are different in each hospital and region. The objective of this study was to determine the causative bacteria and pattern of susceptibility to antibiotics in NICU of a tertiary care centre, which in turn may help in implementation of empirical therapy.

This prospective study was carried out at a medical college during the period from 1st April 2011 to 31st March 2013. A total of 364 cases of suspected sepsis were admitted in our NICU during the mentioned period. Out of which, 137 cases were positive for culture. All the neonates of suspected sepsis were screened by using a panel consisting of CRP, ANC, I/T ratio, micro ESR and culture and sensitivity.

A total of 137 cultures were found to be positive out of 364 cases. The most common organism isolated was Staphylococcus aureus (37.22%) followed by Klebsiella pneumoniae (27.01%) and Escherichia coli (19.70%). Other organisms were much less in number, which included pathogenic Streptococci, Coagulase negative Staphylococci (CoNS), Pseudomonas, Acinetobacter and Enterobacter species. The gram positive organisms except Streptococci displayed a high degree of resistance to most penicillins and ciprofloxacin but were sensitive to vancomycin, amikacin and cefepime. There was a high incidence of resistance noted with ampicillin, gentamicin and ciprofloxacin amongst most gram negative organisms' where-in cefepime, amikacin and meropenem were effective in most cases.

There is an increasing trend of antibiotic resistance to the commonly used first line drugs. Continuous surveillance for antibiotic susceptibility is needed to ensure proper empirical therapy.