Biology and Medicine

Abstract

Bacterial Profile and their Antimicrobial Resistance Patterns from Body Fluids at Tikur Anbesa Specialized Hopital, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Firehiwot Teklehymanot, Melese Hailu Legese and Kassu Desta

Background: Infections caused by multidrug resistant (MDR) bacteria remain a public health threat for patients and health care workers. There are scarcity of data on bacterial profiles and their drug susceptibility patterns from body fluids in Ethiopia. Hence, this study aimed at assessing bacterial profiles and their antimicrobial susceptibility patterns (AST) from body fluids at Tikur Anbessa Specialized Hospital (TASH), Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted from July 2015 to March 2016 by recruiting 384 study participants. Different body fluids were collected and cultured on Blood agar, MacConkey agar and chocolate agar then incubated aerobically and micro-aerobically. Moreover, gram staining, acid-fast staining (AFB) and White blood cell count (WBC) were performed for all collected body fluids sample. Bacterial identification was made using colony morphology, gram stain and biochemical tests. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing was performed on Muller-Hinton agar using disk diffusion method. Data was analyzed using SPSS version 20. Results: Overall 14.1% (n=54/384) of the body fluids had bacterial growth. Most bacteria were isolated from Cerebrospinal Fluid (CSF) 57.4% (n=31/54) and pleural fluids 33.3% (n=18/54). Of all body fluids, primary gram stain yielded 10.7% (n=41/384) positive results. Majority of body fluids, 44.1% (n=173/384) had abnormal WBC count above 05 cells/mm3 and 52.6% (n=91/173) of them had polymorphic features. Most frequent bacterial isolates were K. pneumoniae 16.7% (n=9/54), Coagulase negative Staphylococcus 15.0% (n=8/54) and Pseudomonas spp. 11.1% (n=6/54). Gram-negative and gram-positive bacteria showed highest resistance for Gentamycin (76%) and Erythromycin (59%) respectively. The MDR level recorded was 75.9% (n=41/54). Conclusion: Significant numbers of bacteria with high MDR level were isolated from body fluids that call all health care workers and policy makers for concerted efforts for prudent antibiotic use, and limit the transmission of MDR bacteria in hospital and community settings. Regular monitoring of antimicrobial resistance patterns is essential.