INVASIVE BACTERIAL PATHOGENS AND THEIR ANTIBIOTIC SUSCEPTIBILITY PATTERNS IN JIMMA UNIVERSITY SPECIALIZED HOSPITAL, JIMMA, SOUTHWEST ETHIOPIA

BACKGROUND: Presence of microorganisms in the circulating blood whether continuously or intermittently is a threat to every organ in the body. Approximately 200,000 cases of bacteraemia occur annually with mortality rates ranging from 20-50%. Early diagnosis and appropriate treatment of these infections can make the difference between life and death. The aim of the present study was to determine the bacterial flora of the blood stream infections and their antibiotic susceptibility pattern. METHODS: A cross sectional study was conducted on 260 adult febrile patients in Jimma University Specialized Hospital from 27 October 2009 to 26 March 2010. The positive blood cultures were examined and the organisms were identified as per standard procedures. Antimicrobial testing was performed for all isolates by disk diffusion techniques, according to Clinical Laboratory Standards Institute guide lines. The data was analyzed using SPSS for windows version 16 and Microsoft Office Excel. RESULTS: From the total of two hundred sixty blood specimens only 23(8.8%) were positive to seven different types of bacteria. The isolated bacteria were: Coagulase negative staphylococci 6(26.1%), S. aureus 5 (21.7%), S. pyogens 3 (13.0%), E. coli 4(17.4%), K. pneumoniae 3(13.0%), Salmonella spp. 1(4.3%), and Citrobacter spp. 1(4.3%). The isolates showed high rates of resistance to most antibiotics tested. The range of resistance for gram positive bacteria were 0% to 85.7%, and for gram negative from 0% to 100%. None of the isolates were resistance to ciprofloxacin and ceftriaxone. CONCLUSION: Our study result showed the presence of invasive bacterial pathogens with high rate of resistance to most commonly used antibiotics used to treat bacterial infections. Therefore, timely investigation of bacterial flora of the blood stream infections and monitoring of their antibiotic resistance pattern plays an important role in reduction of the incidence of blood stream infections.