Publication:

Antibiotic resistance pattern of bacterial isolates from skin and soft tissue infections

Background Skin and soft tissue infections (SSTIs) are commonly encountered in clinical practice. The spectrum of the causative bacterial agents changes constantly, and so does their antibiogram. Hence, this study was carried out to find the etiological bacterial agents and their antibiotic resistance patterns in cases of SSTIs.

Methods A pus sample was collected aseptically from 328 cases of skin and soft tissue infections attending OPD of a tertiary care hospital and was investigated for antibiotic resistance pattern of isolated organism.

Results Staphylococcus aureus was the commonest pathogen. It showed maximum resistance against penicillin (97.70%) and 100% sensitivity to teicoplanin, linezolid, gentamicin and vancomycin. 75.86% of the isolated S.aureus strains were methicillin sensitive and 24.14% were methicillin resistant. Pseudomonas aeruginosa was the second most frequent isolate. It showed maximum resistance to aztreonam (64.3%), followed by piperacillin, ceftazidime (57.1%) and was completely sensitive to imipenem.

Conclusions Staphylococcus aureus exhibited high resistance to commonly prescribed antibiotics like β-lactams, fluroquinolones and fusidic acid. Hence, it is recommended to base the treatment upon culture and sensitivity report.