Microbiological Study in Acute Exacerbation of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) Patients

Abstract

The natural history of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is characterized by frequent exacerbations. Majority of exacerbations are infectious and bacteria responsible for 30-50% of these cases. The purpose of this study was to determine the main pathogens causing acute exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients that admitted in Ain-shams university hospital and their antibiotic susceptibility pattern to formulate cost effective antibiotic strategy and reducing the emergence of drug resistance The study was a prospective study comprising of 40 cases admitted with an acute exacerbation of COPD to the pulmonology ward of the Ain-shams University Hospital Early morning Sputum samples ,Nasopharyngeal swabs and Serum sample were collected for all cases In the present study the sputum samples were positive for pathogenic bacteria 30% and 57.5 % atypical bacteria and 47.5% influenza virus infection The choice of antibiotics depends on the local antibiotic policy and the pattern of local pathogens. In the present study Based on the sensitivity pattern, the common antibiotic that can be used are Amikacin, Imipenem,Ceftazidime- Clavulanic acid, Ceftriaxone, Ciprofloxacin, Co - trimoxazole and. In case of mild to moderate AECOPD the patients are to be treated with a short course of antibiotics for a minimum of 5 days than traditional longer treatment