Evaluation of bacterial conjunctivitis and their antimicrobial resistance pattern in hospitalized neonates in Tabriz children`s hospital in 2015 and 2016

Abstract

Neonatal conjunctivitis is one of the most common infections in the neonatal period which, according to studies, affects about 2 to 12% of infants. By considering the susceptibility of this target group to infections and also due to the change of microbial strains in different time periods, the aim of the present study was to investigate the bacteriological causes of conjunctivitis and to determine the pattern of their microbial resistance in neonates admitted to Tabriz Pediatric Hospital in 2015 and 2016. Materials and Methods: In this study, all infants with conjunctivitis who were admitted to Pediatric Hospital of Tabriz in 2015 and 2016 underwent ophthalmic culture and smear examination and type of organism, susceptibility and microbial resistance, was analyzed. The study was retrospective and data were extracted from the neonates' clinical records. Results: In this cross-sectional study, 40 patients with bacterial conjunctivitis were studied. The mean age of the patients was 2.26 days and the highest frequency was in the age group above 7 days with frequency of 70%. 65% of patients were male. The rate of positive culture was 35%. The most common bacteria causing conjunctivitis were Klebsiella pneumoniae (21.5%), Acinetobacter (21.5%), E. coli (14.3%) and Staphylococcus aureus (14.3%). The highest antibiotic susceptibility was related to imipenem, ciprofloxacin and chloramphenicol; the highest antibiotic resistance was related to ceftriaxone.