Bacteriological Profile and Antibiotic Sensitivity Pattern of Pus Samples in a Tertiary Care Hospital

Abstract

Background: Wound infection is one of the most common causes of mortality and prolonged hospital stay worldwide. The emergence of resistant strains of bacteria poses a serious threat to the eradication of hospital-acquired infections. The objective of this study is to find the most common bacterial isolates in the pus samples and to assess their antibiotic sensitivity patterns.Material and Methods: This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted in the Department of Pathology and Microbiology, Holy Family Hospital, Rawalpindi from August 2017 to December 2017 by using convenient sampling. The pus samples of all the patients, tested in the department, were included in the study. Sampling was done using blood and MacConkey agar and antibiotic sensitivity were done on Muller Hinton agar. Data was analyzed using SPSS v-23.0.Results: The most common bacterial isolate was Staphylococcus aureus (29.6%) followed by Escherichia coli (23.8%) and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (14.7%). S. aureus was most sensitive to vancomycin (100%) whereas E. coli and P. aeruginosa showed the highest sensitivity to imipenem (90.7%) and tazocin (80%), respectively.Conclusion: The most common bacterial isolate in pus cultures is S. aureus. Vancomycin is highly effective against S. aureus.