LAUSR

Background: Hospital acquired infections (HAIs) are one of the global concerns in resource limited settings. The aim of the study was to determine bacteria profile and their antimicrobial susceptibility patterns among patients admitted at surgical and medical wards. Methods: A hospital based cross-sectional study was conducted from November 2016 to July 2017 in MaddaWalabu Uni- versity Goba Referral Hospital. Urine and wound swabs were processed and standard disk diffusion test was done to assess susceptibility pattern. Association among variables was determined by Chi-square test. Results: Among 207 patients enrolled, 24.6% developed HAI, of which, 62.7% and 37.3% were from surgical and medical wards, respectively. The male to female ratio was 1.5:1. The age ranged from 19 to 74 years with a mean of 41.65(±16.48) years. A total 62 bacteria were isolated in which majority of the isolates were gram negative bacteria. Most isolates were re- sistance to most of the antibiotics tested but sensitive to Ceftriaxone, Norfloxacin and Ciprofloxacin. Conclusion: Due to the presence of high level drug resistant bacteria, empirical treatment to HAI may not be effective. Therefore, treatment should be based on the result of culture and sensitivity. Keywords: Antimicrobial susceptibility patterns; bacterial profile; hospital acquired infections.