Etiology and Antibacterial Susceptibility Pattern of Bacterial Ocular Infections in a Children Hospital in North Jordan (2005-2009)
Al-Shara Mohammad

Department of Pharmacology, Faculty of Nursing, Irbid National University, Irbid (Jordan).

Abstract: To identify the etiology of ocular bacterial infections and to assess the in vitro susceptibility of these ocular bacterial isolates to commonly used antibiotics. Retrospective analysis of consecutive samples submitted for microbiological evaluation from children aged below 15 years who were clinically diagnosed with ocular infections and were treated at princess Rahmah hospital in North Jordan between January 2005 and December 2009. A total of 284 ocular samples were submitted for microbiological evaluation, of which 154 (54.2%) had positive bacterial growth. The most common bacterial species isolated was Staphylococcus aureus (56.6%) followed by Streptococcus pneumoniae (14.9%). Klebsiella sp (12.9%), Enterobacter spp (9.1%), Pseudomonas (5.2%) and Moraxella (1.3%). The most of gram-positive isolates was susceptible to vancomycin (93.6%) and cefotaxime (84.3%), and gram-negative isolates to ciprofloxacin (77.7%) and tobramycin (48.1%). Over all isolates, ciprofloxacin was the most effective antimicrobial agents with susceptibility rate of 78.0%. Gram-positive cocci were the most frequent bacteria isolated from ocular infections and were sensitive to vancomycin and cefotaxime, while gram-negative isolates were more sensitive to ciprofloxacin and tobramycin.

Keywords: Ocular pathogens; Ocular infection; Antimicrobial susceptibility patterns

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