Abstract
PurposeSevere bacterial infection is a major cause of neonatal morbidity and mortality worldwide. Geographical-based demographic laboratory and clinical data are required to get a conclusion about the bacterial infection and their antibiotic susceptibility for the empiric antibiotic treatment in infants who presented with suspected infection. This study was aimed to find the most prevalent bacterial infection and antibiotic sensitivity among infants in the post-neonatal period presented at a tertiary care centre in South India.Design/methodology/approachA cross-sectional study was designed among infants (29 days to 1 year old) presented with suspected infection in the paediatric department. Infants with positive culture report were analysed for the bacteriological and antibiotic profile from the medical records. Antibiotic sensitivity was determined for the isolated bacteria according to standard procedure and data statically analysed.FindingsTotal of 218 samples (138 male and 80 female) were analysed. Most of the samples (171/218, 78.4%) were throat swab (p = 0.0247). Only one sample was cerebrospinal fluid from case of meningitis. Sample from upper RTI was major (162/218, 74.3%) with male dominance followed by stool samples from cases of diarrhoea (22/218, 10.0%). Staphylococcus aureus was the major organism identified in 46/171 (26.9 %) throat swabs. The most sensitive antibiotic against bacteria isolated from throat swab and CSF was gentamicin and cloxacillin. Netilmicin and piperacillin plus tazobactam were the sensitive antibiotics against bacteria isolated from stool, ear secretion and urine samples.Originality/valueUpper RTI was the prevalent bacterial infection followed by diarrhoea in infants in the post-neonatal period. Klebsiella pneumoniae was the common organism identified in the overall report followed by E. coli and S. aureus. Community-based awareness should be provided to follow good hygiene regularly in child care. Furthermore, avoid delay in seeking treatment and provide the medicine prescribed at the right time and in the right dose to limit the morbidity and bacterial resistance.
Highlights
A serious bacterial infection is one of the major causes of neonatal mortality worldwide
This study aimed to describe the bacterial infection, type of bacteria, and their antimicrobial profile in post-neonatal infants presented with infection at a tertiary care hospital
The major bacterial infection was respiratory tract infection (RTI) which was found in 171/218 (78.4%) cases (Tables 1 and 2)
Summary
A serious bacterial infection is one of the major causes of neonatal mortality worldwide. Incidence of serious bacterial infections in infants during the postneonatal period, identification of the organism and appropriate antibiotic selection remains a major challenge to clinicians. Bacterial strains’ resistance to antibiotics is the common cause of serious bacterial infections in febrile post-neonatal infants. A recent systematic review reported that urinary tract infection (UTI) was the most common bacterial infection in young infants [1, 2]. Wang et al reported a wide local variation in bacterial infections [3]. Studies reported that febrile illnesses such as pneumonia, UTI, blood-stream infections, and meningitis were the most severe bacterial infections in Indian infants [4,5,6,7]
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