Bacteriological profile and antibiotic susceptibility pattern of neonatal sepsis at soba university hospital: A descriptive retrospective study

Background: Neonatal sepsis is one of the most common causes of neonatal mortality and morbidity. Before getting the culture results, it is necessary to initiate empirical antibiotics based on the epidemiology of causative agents and antibiotic sensitivity patterns in the area. Our study aimed to determine the bacteriological profile of common etiologic agents of neonatal sepsis and their antibiotics-sensitivity pattern. Methodology: This study was a descriptive, cross-sectional, retrospective hospital-based survey of 250 neonates' reports with positive blood culture, which was carried out in the Department of Clinical Microbiology and Parasitology of Soba University hospital from January 1, 2017, to July 31, 2017. The data were collected by using a predesigned checklist and were analyzed by using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences. Univariate, as well as multivariate analysis, were performed in this study to analyze the data. Results: Gram-negative bacteria were commonly isolated (56%). The most frequently isolated organism was Staphylococcus aureus(34.8%) followed by Pseudomonas species (33.6%) and Klebsiella species (15.2%). Moreover, overall sensitivity among Gram-negative isolates was to imipenem (87.1%), followed by ciprofloxacin (84.7%) and amikacin (75.9%), whereas Gram-positive isolates had a high sensitivity of (93.6%) to vancomycin. Conclusion: Among the studied samples, the most frequently isolated organism was S. aureus. The overall sensitivity among Gram-negative isolates was higher to imipenem ciprofloxacin and amikacin, whereas Gram-positive isolates had a high sensitivity to vancomycin.