Antibiotic Susceptibility Profiles of Coagulase-Negative Staphylococci Clinical Isolates Collected from Tertiary Care Hospital Peshawar

Abstract

Coagulase-negative staphylococci (CoNS) are normal flora and significant colonizer in humans. Despite of these they become pathogenic during uncertain favorable conditions. It has been reported that colonizing CoNS pathogens are responsible for infections in humans, particularly in immunocompromised patients causing bacteremia as well as bloodstream infections. This study aimed to determine the antibiotic susceptibility profile of Coagulase-negative staphylococci clinical isolates collected from Tertiary Care Hospital Peshawar, Pakistan. A total of 120 clinical staphylococci isolates were collected from a Tertiary care hospital in Peshawar, Pakistan from January 2022 to April 2022. Samples were initially identified through Gram-staining and were further confirmed for growth characteristics by mannitol salt agar (OXOID CM0085). Various biochemical tests were performed for further identification of CoNS such as the catalase test, tube coagulase test, and DNase test. Antibiotic susceptibility profiles were determined through the disc diffusion method by following Clinical and Laboratory Standard Institutes (CLSI) guidelines; 2021.Chi-square test was used to find any significance of the data using SPSS software. Among 120 isolates, the major source of the isolate was pus (n=74, 61.66%), followed by urine (n=22, 18.33%), and blood (n=11, 9.16%). The majority of the isolates were from the emergency ward (n=46, 38.33%). More CoNS was observed in male (n=72, 60%) as compared to female (n=48, 40%) patients. The highest infection of CoNS was in the age group of 21-30 years. Staphylococci isolates were highly resistant to penicillin G (n=106, 88.33%), followed by erythromycin (n=72, 60%), amoxicillin (n=70, 58.33%), ciprofloxacin (n=70, 58.33%), and gentamycin (n=53, 44.16%) while highest susceptibility was observed to vancomycin (n=7, 5.83%). Overall 30% of CoNS were MDR. Seven isolates showed resistance to different 4 classes of antibiotics, followed by 17 isolates to three classes of antibiotics. The association between the gender and antibiotics was found statistically non-significant. CoNS are now involved in infection and also their increased resistance to different antibiotics may pose a great threat to clinicians. This matter should be noticed quickly. The emergence of MDR patterns in CoNS isolates involved in various infections.