Magnitude, Diversity and Prevalence of Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria in Pediatric Patients of Coastal Area at Khulna Region, Bangladesh

Antibiotic resistance is one of the biggest public health challenges around the world. A cross-sectional study was conducted to elucidate the magnitude, diversity and antibiotic resistant pattern of coastal pediatric patients. All isolates were characterized by routine bacterial culture, gram staining and biochemical tests. A total of 120 samples from various body fluids of pediatric patients were taken from 3 hospitals in Khulna city. Data were analysed by Excel 2016 and Graphpad Prism (8.0.2). 81 samples (67.5%) showed positive growth, among which 45 (75%) and 36 (60%) were coastal and non-coastal patient’s sample respectively. Out of 9 identified bacteria, 6 were found in both coastal and non-coastal pediatric patients namely, E.coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella spp., Streptococcus spp., Salmonella spp., Pseudomonas spp. whereas, Corynebacterium spp. found only in coastal and Acinetobacter spp., & Shigella spp. were found in only non-coastal pediatric patients. Gram negative bacteria were most prevailed both in coastal (66.7%) and non-coastal (72.2%) patients. Moreover, Urinary Tract Infections (UTIs) were more prevalent at early childhood stage (2-5 years of age) in coastal area whereas, infants (28 days-12 months of age) were more prone to pneumonia in non-coastal area. Antibiotic resistance patterns for 10 commonly prescribed antibiotics through Kirby-Bauer disk diffusion method reveals, most of the bacterial strains showed multidrug resistant (≥ 80%) against 7 and/or more classes of antibiotics. Therefore, it is necessary to reduce the abundant use of antibiotics. Institutional antimicrobial resistance surveillance efforts and use of biogenic nanomaterials and microalgae-based technologies could decrease the occurrence.