Abstract

Respiratory tract infection is a serious concern for public health worldwide, and imposes a lot of pressure on health facilities, specifically in developing countries along with economic restrictions. This study evaluated the prevalence of bacterial pathogens and their antibiotic sensitivity pattern among patients with respiratory tract infection in Ghaem Hospital, Mashhad, east of Iran during the 3 years period. All clinical isolates were identified by conventional biochemical tests. Antibacterial susceptibility testing was performed by disc diffusion method following clinical and laboratory standards institute (CLSI) guidelines. Among 4897 clinical respiratory samples, 3748 samples were positive. Out of 3748 culture positive, 42% were related to females and 58% to males. The prevalence of respiratory infections in our study reported 27.5%. Most isolates were obtained from the age group of 60-80 years old. The most common isolated were Acinetobacter spp. 37% and Klebsiella pneumonia 21%. Antimicrobial profile of Acinetobacter spp. and Klebsiella pneumonia showed maximum resistance to Amikacin 86.8 and 50.3% respectively. According to our study, the duration of hospitalization in the ICU, especially surgery ICU, is associated with an increased risk of respiratory infection. Therefore, infection control plays an important role in the ICUs.

Key words: Respiratory tract infections, Antibacterial susceptibility test, Intensive care unit.