Description and antibiotic resistance of bacteria isolated from sputum specimens at can tho university of medicine and pharmacy hospital from july 2021 to december 2021

Background: Bacteria causing respiratory infections tend to rapidly increase antibiotic resistance, prolong treatment time, increase treatment costs and increase mortality. Objectives: 1). To determine the proportion of bacterial strains isolated from sputum specimens; 2). To describe the antibiotic resistance of bacterial strains isolated from sputum specimens. Materials and methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study was carried out on 96 patients with positive sputum cultures using convenient sampling method. Results: Streptococcus pneumoniae (44.8%) was found to be the predominant pathogen isolated followed by Klebsiella pneumoniae (20.8%), Acinetobacter baumannii (13.5%) and Staphylococcus aureus (8.3%). The highest resistance was observed with piperacillin, ampicillin, erythromycin, cefaclor, azithromycin. Streptococcus pneumonia isolated were mostly resistant to azithromycin, cefaclor, and erythromycin (85.7%), while 0% resistance was observed for vancomycin, ampicillin and gentamycin. Klebsiella pneumoniae were highly resistant to ampicillin (95%), trimeth/sulfa (85%), and piperacillin (85%). Acinetobacter baumannii had a resistant rate of over 50% to most antibiotics, especially gentamycin and meropenem (84.6%). Staphylococcus aureus were completely resistant to ampicillin, clindamycin, penicillin, while vancomycin resistance was observed among 12.5% of the isolated bacteria. Conclusions: The most common pathogen was Streptococcus pneumoniae, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Acinetobacter baumannii and Staphylococcus aureus. The highest resistance was observed with piperacillin, ampicillin, erythromycin, cefaclor, and azithromycin. Streptococcus pneumoniae was highly resistant to macrolides. Klebsiella pneumoniae was highly resistant to most antibiotics of the 2nd, 3rd generation cephalosporins and beta lactams (penicillin and monobactam). Acinetobacter baumannii showed a noticeable resistance to fluoroquinolones, aminoglycosides, and 4th generation cephalosporins. Staphylococcus aureus was highly resistant to penicillin, lincosamides, fluoroquinolone, while 12.5% vancomycin resistance was observed.