Culture and sensitivity patterns of the causative organisms isolated from the patient of Empyema Thoracis

Abstract

Background: Empyema thoracis, defined as collection of pus in the pleural space has been recognized since centuries ago and historically has been associated with high mortality. The mortality rate from empyema thoracis remains high despite enormous advancement in the use of good antibiotics. Obective of the present study was to Determine the frequency of different patterns of culture and sensitivity of organisms causing empyema thoracis. Methodology: This was a descriptive cross-sectional study. By non-probability consecutive sampling all empyema thoracis patients of age 20 to 60 years admitted in Pulmonology unit of Ayub Teaching Hospital Abbottabad, Pakistan were studied. The study was conducted from May 2018 to March 2019.The diagnosis of empyema thoracis was established by analysis of the pleural fluid aspirated from the pleural space via needle attached to a syringe. Data was intered on a specifically designed proforma and was analyze by SPSS 25. Results: Male patients were 148 (67.6%) and the remaining 71 were females. Culture was positive in 67 (30.6%) patients. The most commonly isolated organisms were Bacteroides comprising 6.8% of total study population while other isolates were Streptococcus pneumoniae (4.1%), Staphylococcus aureus (6.4%), E-coli(3.7%), Klebseilla pneumoniae (2.7%), Peptococcus (3.2%), Streptococcus milleri (1.8%) and polymicrobial infection (4.1%). Sensitivity to ciprofloxacin, moxifloxacin, cefotaxime and ceftriaxone was highest (28.3% each) while it was 26.0% to each cephradine and Co-amoxiclav, 21.9% to amoxicillin and 27.4% to gentamycin. Conclusion: Empyema fluid culture is positive in less than one third of empyema thoracis patients and majority of the involved organisms are sensitive to most of the commonly prescribed antibiotics. Keywords: Empyema; Pneumonia; Culture and Sensitivity; Antibiotics