Isolation of antimicrobial resistant bacteria in upper respiratory tract infections of patients

Haemophilus influenzae, Streptococcus pyogenes, Moraxella catarrhalis, Staphylococcus aureus, and Streptococcus pneumoniae are usual cause of upper respiratory tract infection cases. The present study aims the isolation of bacterial strains which are resistant to the commonly prescribed antibiotics. In total, 900 throat swabs were obtained from the patients suffering from upper respiratory tract infections residing in three different localities. The maximum number of isolates (64 %) were obtained from locality-1 (L-1), whereas lowest isolates were found in second locality (L-2). H. influenzae was found to be the most dominant bacterial pathogen in upper respiratory tract infections in patients with 42 % of the total isolates. H. influenzae and Chlamydia pneumoniae were resistant to β-lactam antibiotics but susceptible to fluroquinolones and aminoglycosides, whereas S. aureus and S. pneumoniae were found to be highly resistant to β-lactam, aminoglycosides and fluroquinolones. S. aureus was also moderately resistant to fluroquinolones and aminoglycosides with percent resistance of 26, 33 and 18 %, respectively. 56 % S. pneumoniae isolates were resistant against erythromycin, 27 % against chloramphenicol and 23 % against cefuroxime. The studies revealed that S. aureus and S. pneumoniae strains were high producer of biofilms which could be one of the reasons for their high pathogenicity.