Abstract
Emerging resistance against broad-spectrum antibiotics for standard empiric therapy is a global concern. Ceftriaxone (broad spectrum, third generation cephalosporin) is widely used in tertiary care settings to treat severe bacterial infections usually non-responsive to other antibiotics. The aim of the study is to evaluate the current sensitivity pattern of ceftriaxone (30 mu g/disk) among different clinical isolates. For this purpose, three hundred clinical isolates including Escherichia coli (25%), Staphylococcus aureus (30%), Salmonella typhi (17%) and Klebsiella pneumoniae (20%) were collected from different pathological laboratories of Karachi, Pakistan. The in-vitro sensitivity of different Gram positive and Gram-negative bacteria was determined by disk-diffusion technique using 0.5 McFarland standard. Results showed that ceftriaxone was highly sensitive against Escherichia coli (90%) and least sensitive against Klebsiella pneumoniae (65%). It is concluded that the sensitivity of ceftriaxone is progressively decreasing in comparison with past studies creating an alarming situation. Therefore, continuous surveillance is required to determine the current resistance status of clinical pathogens and for effective anti-microbial therapy.