Assessment of Antibiotic-Resistance among Pneumococci

Abstract

In recent years the antimicrobial resistance increases and this results in increase rate of infectious diseases. The objective of this study was to assess antimicrobial resistance in patients with pneumococcal infection. Sputum and CSF specimens were collected from patients suspected to have pneumococcal infections. The patients attended to Omdurman Pediatrics Emergency Hospital, Al-sh’ab Hospital, Military Hospital and Gaafer Ebn Awf Hospital. The specimens were cultured on blood agar and chocolate agar for primary isolation of the causative agent. The identification of the isolated bacteria was done by colonial morphology, Gram’s stain and biochemical tests. Antimicrobial resistance was assessed for isolate by modified Kirby-Bauer disk diffusion method. The results revealed that S. pneumoniae was isolated from 27 (10.8%) out of 250 specimens. The rate of resistance among S. pneumoniae was 40.7% to penicillin followed by tetracycline, 18.5%; ciprofloxacin, 14.8%; erythromycin, 14.8% and chloramphenicol, 11.1%. The study was conducted that the resistance of S. pneumoniae for penicillin is too high and the chloramphenicol is effective to most pneumococcal isolates. Further studies are required to validate these results.