Objective: To determine the antibiogram of tracheal aspirate cultures (TACS) among intubated children aged 2 months to 5 years old with very severe community acquired pneumonia (CAP). Methodology: A retrospective chart review using total enumerative sampling. Results: 66 out of the 343 patients had positive TACS. The top 5 most common isolates were Klebsiella pneumoniae(37.8%), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (25.7%), Acinetobacter baumanii (15.1%), Enterobacter cloacae (12.1%) and Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) (6%). The gram-negative isolates were highly sensitive to amikacin and carbapenems. Majority of these patients (92.42%) had history of Pentavalent immunization. Majority of patients who were TACS positive had history of antibiotic use prior to admission (92.42%), mostly second-generation cepahalosporin (cefuroxime, 32.42%). High rates of resistance to ampicillin and gentamicin were noted for patients with Klebsiella pneumoniae and Enterobacter cloacae isolates. Majority of patients with Klebsiella pneumoniae, Acinetobacter baumanii and MRSA expired. Conclusion/Recommendation Majority of those patients with positive isolates had MDR organisms thus for patients with very severe CAP who already received antibiotic as outpatient, broad spectrum antibiotics should be considered as empiric therapy and TACS be done on all patients with very severe CAP.
Pneumonia