Antibiotic Susceptibility Pattern of Bacteria Isolated from Blood Cultures of Febrile and Neutropenic Patients

Abstract

Background: The relationship between fever and neutropenia and the risk of life-threatening infections in patients undergoing cytotoxic chemotherapy is well established, and infectious complications are the main cause of mortality in these patients. This study aimed to determine the frequency of bacteria isolated from blood cultures and their antibiotic susceptibility patterns in febrile and neutropenic patients admitted to Seyed Al-Shohada Hospital, Isfahan. Methods: This cross-sectional study included 364 patients with confirmed febrile neutropenia admitted to Seyed Al-Shohada Hospital in 2019-2020 through census sampling. Data were collected using a checklist and analyzed with Mann-Whitney and Chi-square tests. Findings: The most common gram-positive bacteria isolated from blood cultures were Staphylococcus epidermidis (22.8, n = 83), while the most common gram-negative isolates were Escherichia coli (23.6, n = 86) and Klebsiella species (16.8, n = 61). There was no significant difference in the distribution of isolated bacteria by gender (P < 0.05). Overall, gram-positive bacteria showed highest susceptibility to erythromycin, while gram-negative isolates were most susceptible to amikacin, cefepime, and piperacillin-tazobactam. The highest resistance in gram-positive bacteria was observed against amikacin, meropenem, piperacillin-tazobactam, imipenem, and linezolid, while gram-negative bacteria showed maximum resistance to clindamycin, erythromycin, oxacillin, penicillin, levofloxacin, tetracycline, vancomycin, ampicillin, imipenem, and linezolid. Conclusion: Determining regional antibiotic susceptibility patterns of prevalent organisms and communicating these to physicians can facilitate more effective empirical treatment. © 2025, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences(IUMS). All rights reserved.