Identification and Antibiogram Profiling of Bacteria Isolated from Healthcare Associated Medical Devices and Inanimate Objects Used for Pediatric Patients

Abstract

Medical equipments and inanimate objects used in the Pediatric wards are heavily contaminated with different species of bacterial pathogens. Nosocomial infections are a subset of hospital acquired infections, can lead to serious problems like sepsis and even death. Due to the ubiquitous and unauthorized uses of antibiotic by general people, different species of bacteria are becoming resistant against antibiotic day by day. Thus, antibiotic resistance has become an emerging issue in the developing countries like Bangladesh. This study aimed to characterise bacteria and antibiogram profiling of isolated bacteria from inanimate objects and body fluids from healthcare associated medical devices used in Pediatric ward. A total of 105 swabs from inanimate objects and 130 body fluids from discarded healthcare associated medical devices were collected from 3 hospitals in Khulna city namely Ad-Din Akij Medical College Hospital (AAMCH), Khulna Shishu Hospital (KSH) and Khulna Medical College Hospital (KMCH). Of them, 51% and 62% samples of inanimate objects and body fluids from healthcare associated medical devices showed bacterial growth respectively. Colonies from pure culture were used to identify isolates morphologically and were characterized by gram staining. Nine (9) different bacterial strains were found namely Staphylococcus aureus (36%), Klebsiella pneumoniae (30%), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (11%), E.coli (11%), Salmonella typhimurium (6%), Corynebacterium spp. (5%), Streptococcus pneumoniae (4%), Acinetobacter spp. (3%) and Shigella spp (1%) based on various biochemical tests. Antibiogram profiling through Kirby-Baur disk diffusion method showed that out of commonly prescribed 10 antibiotics, identified all 9 bacterial strains were resistant to Penicillin (88%), Cefixime (75%) and Colistin (72%), whereas Amikacin (58%) and Gentamicin (50%) showed more sensitivity. Therefore, it is necessary to decrease the abundant use of antibiotics, as well as good clinical practices and techniques can reduce the potential risk of pathogenic bacteria to become antibiotic resistant.