Journal of AdvancedMedical and Dental Sciences Research

Background: Staphylococcus aureus infections represent a significant clinical burden for infants worldwide and were recently found to be the second most common cause of late-onset sepsis in very-low birth weight infants admitted to neonatal intensive care units. The present study was conducted to assess prevalence of staphylococcus aureus in the neonatal ICU. Materials & Methods: 60 neonates who developed sepsis in NICU of both genders were studied. The neonatal septicaemia was divided as early -onset sepsis and late-onset sepsis. All the blood cultures were collected from the peripheral veins. Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 27853 was included as the control strain. Results: Out of 60 neonates, males were 34 and females were 26. Organism isolated were staphylococcus aureus 20 in early onset sepsis and 11 in late onset sepsis, Escherichia coli 1 each in early and late onset sepsis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa 1 each in early and late onset sepsis, Klebsiella pneumoniae 6 in early onset sepsis and 2 in late onset sepsis, coagulase negative staphylococcus 8 in early onset sepsis and 3 in late onset sepsis, acinetobacter baumannii 2 in early onset sepsis and 1 in late onset sepsis, Citrobacter diversus 1 each in early and late onset sepsis and enterobacter cloacae 1 in early onset sepsis. The difference was significant (P< 0.05). Conclusion: In NICU neonates, most commonly organism isolated were staphylococcus aureus followed by Klebsiella pneumoniae, coagulase negative staphylococcus, acinetobacter baumannii, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Citrobacter diversus and enterobacter cloacae.