ABSTRACT

S. pneumonaie and H. influenzae are the most common isolated microorganisms from community acquired lower respiratory tract infections and these microorganisms are rapidly becoming resistant to antibiotics. In this study, children’s respiratory tract specimens isolated between 2010-2012 were analyzed. The aim of this study was to analyze the antibiotic resistance rates of microorganisms isolated from clinical specimens.

In this study 1834 respiratory specimens collected from Clinical Microbiology Laboratory of Cerrahpaşa Medical Faculty between January 2010-January 2012 were analyzed. The identification was made by classic methods. Antibiotic susceptibility was performed by the Kirby-Bauer disc diffusion method on Mueller-Hinton agar according to CLSI criteria.

In this study, pathogen microorganisms were isolated from 501 respiratory specimens. Three hundred fifty three of these pathogen microorganisms were isolated from outpatient patients and 148 of them were isolated from hospitalized patients. H. influenzae, S. pneumoniae and P. aeruginosa were found as the most common isolated bacteria. Among S. pneumoniae strains 2.5% were found intermediately and 5% were highly resistant to penicillin. Among the Haemophilus species 2% of asolates were found beta- lactamase positive.

Respiratory infections caused by S. pneumoniae should be treated with penicillins but, bearing in mind the occurence of penicillin resistant S. pneumoniae, susceptibility tests are mandatory. Detection of respiratory infection pathogens and periodical epidemiological susceptibility surveys are needed. (JAREM 2013; 3: 103-7)

Keywords: Antibiotic resistance, respiratory infections of children, Streptococcus pneumoniae, Haemophilus influenzae