Abstract

Objective: To determine the status of isolation blood stream serotypes of enteric fever pathogens and their antibiotic susceptibility patterns and to guide clinicians for appropriate therapy. Methods: Samples were examined by microbiological techniques to identify the causative agent and determine their antimicrobial susceptibility patterns by Kirby-Bauer disk diffusion methods and interpreted as per Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute guidelines. Results: Among 403 blood samples, 76 (18.85%) showed growth for Salmonella isolates. Distribution of Salmonella typhi and Salmonella paratyphi A isolates were found to be 54% and 46% respectively. Among 76 Salmonella isolates, 28 (36.84%) were from male and remaining 48 (63.15%) were from female belonging to all age-groups. Multidrug-resistance was found to be 17% among the Salmonella isolates. Nalidixic acid resistance was 73.68% in Salmonella with higher proportion in Salmonella paratyphi A (85.7%) in comparison to Salmonella typhi (63.42%). Salmonella isolates demonstrated 100% susceptibility to azithromycin, ceftriazone, ciprofloxacin, ofloxacin and imipenem. Conclusions: The need of continual surveillance of resistance levels to guide clinicians for appropriate therapy based on the antibiotic susceptibility pattern for Salmonella isolates is sustained with discouragement in misuse of antibiotics prior to prescription as multidrugresistance-nalidixic acid resistant strains.

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