Is Salmonella Typhi Becoming a Superbug? A Cross-Sectional Study of the Antibiotic Sensitivity

Abstract

Objective: To determine the antibiotic sensitivity patterns of Salmonella typhi in blood cultures of the patients attending a tertiary care hospital.

Material & Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in the Department of Internal Medicine, Hayatabad Medical Complex, Peshawar, Pakistan for a period of one year from 1^st August, 2021 till 30 August, 2022. All adult patients of either sex, belonging to the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan between 18 to 70 years of age, whether admitted through casualty or the outpatients, having a history of fever for the past 07 days and no prior history of admission or use of antibiotics in past one month were included.

Results: The mean age of the patients was 47 ± 5.6 years with females 59.2 % (320) and the males 40.7 % (220). A total of 540 blood cultures showed a growth of Salmonella Typhi out of requested 857 cultures representing a positive culture yield of 63%. The total numbers of MDR cases were 83.6% whereas the XDR cases were 3%. The antibiotics sensitivity was 100% to Carbepenems, Tigacycline, Colistin and Polymixin, whereas between 27.7% to 16.4% in the cephalosporin class and only 16.4% to the flouroquinolones.

Conclusion: The antibiotics resistance against Salmonella Typhi is on the upswing and calls for effective programs of antibiotics stewardship, development of indigenous updated antibiotics guidelines in line with the local sensitivity patterns and actions to avert the spread of infection.