A Retrospective Study on the Pyogenic Pathogens and Their Antibiotic Susceptibility Patterns along with the ES<i>β</i>L Production

Abstract

Pyogenic infections are caused by various pathogens leading to pus formation and that can be attributed due to a wound either through accident or during surgery leading to infection spread. There are pathogenic strains that are not uncommon in hospital settings like Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Acinetobacter etc., that are multidrug resistant (MDR) and are a cause of concern. The bacteriological profile in the pyogenic infections tends to be same but there is a vast difference with the antibiotic resistant patterns in different hospital settings. Hence, the aim was to study the antibiotic susceptibility profiles and Extended spectrum βeta Lactamases (ESβL) production in these pathogens. A prospective study was carried out in Silchar Medical College and Hospital Assam, India, over a four-month period from February to May 2021. The samples were processed using Blood and MacConkey’s agar. Further, these isolated pathogens were identified by standard morphological, cultural and biochemical tests. The antibiotic susceptibility test was conducted by Kirby Bauer disc diffusion method and ESβL production was detected by using combined disk diffusion test. It was observed that the identified pathogens had an incidence rate of 84.2% and further revealed that Gram negative had a higher incidence rate compared to Gram positive with 59.8%. The pathogens isolated from pus samples had a maximum of Klebsiella sps (19.64%) and the lowest was E. coli with 5.36%. Antibiotic susceptibility test (AST) of Gram-negative bacterial isolates showed the highest incidence with aztreonam (40.6%) and the lowest was observed in Piperacillin/Tazobactam with 7.5%. The only Gram positive was observed in our study, Staphylococcus aureus had the highest resistance in amikacin with 80% and interestingly, all the isolates were sensitive to Linezolid with 100%. There is a high rise and spreading with the multi-drug resistance (MDR) strains along with ESβL production and it was observed in our studies that these pathogens had an incidence rate of 18.5%. The highest was 58.1% in Pseudomonas sps. None of Proteus sps were found to be ESβL producers. To combat resistance, the irrational use of antibiotics should be avoided and surveillance of the rising multidrug species regularly helps in implementing better therapeutic options to reduce the morbidity and mortality.