Bacterial Spectrum and Antimicrobial Susceptibility Patterns in Septicemia Suspected Patients

Backgrounds: In this comprehensive study, the prevalence of sepsis, a potentially life-threatening condition, was investigated among ۴۷۷ patients displaying sepsis symptoms. Materials & Methods: A detailed questionnaire was used to capture the patients' demographic information and clinical treatment outcomes.The E-test method was employed to determine the susceptibility of Gram-positive bacteria to vancomycin and Gram-negative bacteria to cefepime, ceftriaxone, and imipenem. Findings: Among the participants, ۴۰ patients (۸.۶%) were diagnosed with septicemia, a condition whose prevalence significantly increased with age (p= .۰۰۱). Out of ۴۰ patients with positive blood cultures, ۱۴ (۳۵%) were infected by Gram-positive bacteria, while ۲۶ (۶۵%) were infected by Gram-negative bacteria. Acinetobacter lwoffii and Staphylococcus epidermidis were identified as the most common causes of sepsis among Gram-negative (۳۰.۷%) and Gram-positive (۵۷.۱%) bacteria, respectively Gram-negative bacteria exhibited the highest resistance to ceftriaxone (۳۸.۴%) and the highest susceptibility to imipenem (۸۴.۶%) in both laboratory and clinical settings. Gram-positive bacteria demonstrated the high susceptibility to vancomycin (۷۸.۵%), with only four patients exhibiting resistance to vancomycin in both laboratory and clinical settings. Encouragingly, there was a ۷۷.۵% concordance between laboratory and clinical antibiotic susceptibility testing results. Conclusion: Based on these findings, vancomycin and imipenem are recommended as the preferred antibiotics for Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria, respectively. Given the high concordance (۷۷.۵%) between laboratory and clinical results, it is suggested to perform antibiogram test using E-test method on blood culture isolates in septicemia cases to guide appropriate antibiotic treatment.

Keywords:

Septicemia , Clinical resistance , Bacterial agents , E-test method , Antibiotic