Background: Upper respiratory tract infections have been regarded as the most frequent illnesses affecting people worldwide. Data about bacterial profile and current antibiotics resistance status for such infections is scarce in Ethiopia.
Objective: This study was done to determine bacterial profile and their antimicrobial resistance patterns in patients with upper respiratory tract infections.
Methods: A cross sectional study design was used and was conducted in Debre Berhan, Ethiopia from October 2016 to September 2017. Patients with upper respiratory infections presented to outpatient department were enrolled for the study. Socio-demographic and clinical data were collected using standardize questionnaires. Clinical samples of throat swabs were collected and transported to the microbiology laboratory for processing. Data was analyzed using SPSS version 20.
Results: A total of 109 patients, almost equal number of male (49.5%) and female (50.5%) participants were involved in the study. Majority (62.4%) of the participants were with age of below 5 years old. The culture positivity was 36.7%. Among all bacterial isolates (n=40) the predominant isolate was Streptococcus pyogenes (42.5%), and followed by Streptococcus pneumoniae (22.5%), Staphylococcus aureus (15%), Haemophilus influenzae (12.5%), and Klebsiella pneumoniae (7.5%). Overall antimicrobial resistant pattern seen in all bacterial isolates ranges from 0 % to 66.6%. High resistances in all isolates have been seen. Cough and watery eye were found as predictor variables.
Conclusion: High number of bacterial isolates and emergence of resistant strains have been found. We recommend to taken this in accounting during medical decision, guideline development and designing interventional strategies.