Objective:Respiratory tract infections cause significant morbidity and mortality globally and are the most common infectious diseases in humans. This study aimed at determining the prevalence of bacterial respiratory infections and antimicrobial susceptibility profile among outpatients presenting with respiratory tract infections in Meru teaching and referral hospital. Methods:The study was conducted in Meru teaching and referral hospital, Meru County from April 2017 to August 2018. A total of 175 sputum and throat samples were collected aseptically from patients who were clinically suspected to have respiratory infections and cultured in blood agar, MacConkey agar and chocolate agar. Bacterial isolates were identified by colonial morphology, Gram stain and confirmed by biochemical tests. Antimicrobial susceptibility profile was determined using agar disc diffusion method. Results: Respiratory bacterial pathogens were isolated in 43.6 % of the samples. The prevalence of the bacteria species isolated were as followsPseudomonas species (30.9 %), Staphylococcus aureus (22.2 %), Klebsiella species (19.8 %), Streptococcus pyogenes (14.8 %) and Streptococcus pneumoniae (12.4 %). The susceptibility test showed that both Gram positive and Gram-negativeisolates were highly susceptible to gentamicin, cefuroxime and amikacin while resistance was recorded for amoxicillin and ampicillin. However, resistance to more than two antibiotics was recorded in 54 (66.7 %) of the isolates. Conclusion: Many of the isolates obtained showed resistance to some antibiotics used hence there is need for a continuous surveillance of antimicrobial resistance in management of respiratory infections in Meru County. Ethical approval and consent to participate: This study obtained approval from Kenyatta University ethics review committee (KUERC) and ethics review committee of Meru teaching and referral hospital. Informed consent was obtained from all the subjects and their legal guardians. The patients voluntarily consented to participate in the study. All methods were carried out in accordance with relevant guidelines and regulations (declaration of helsinki). The ethics review committee of Meru teaching and referral hospital approved the study protocol.

Objective Respiratory tract infections cause significant morbidity and mortality globally and are the most common infectious diseases in humans. This study aims at assessing the presence of bacterial respiratory infections, number of people infected and antimicrobial susceptibility profile among antibiotic naïve outpatients presenting with respiratory tract infections in Meru Teaching and Referral Hospital. Methods The study was conducted in Meru Teaching and Referral Hospital, Meru County from April 2017 to August 2018. Upper respiratory infections were characterized by acute infection of nasal cavity, pharynx and larynx while lower respiratory infections were characterized by chest pains, prolonged cough, productive sputum, difficulty in breathing, fever and weight loss. A total of 384 sputum and throat samples were collected aseptically from patients who were clinically suspected to have respiratory infections and cultured in blood agar, MacConkey agar and chocolate agar. Bacterial isolates were identified by colonial morphology, Gram stain and confirmed by biochemical tests. Antimicrobial susceptibility profile was determined using agar disc diffusion method. Results Respiratory bacterial pathogens were isolated in 45.6% of the samples. The prevalence of the bacteria species isolated were as follows Pseudomonas species (36.6%), Klebsiella species (20.6%), Staphylococcus aureus (16.6%), Streptococcus pyogenes (13.7%), Streptococcus pneumoniae (10.3%) and mixed isolates (2.3%). Amoxicillin and ampicillin recorded the highest resistance rate. Most of the isolates displayed high level of resistance to more than two antibiotics. Although multidrug resistance is reported in the study, gentamicin, amikacin and cefuroxime are recommended as the antibiotics of choice against bacterial isolates obtained. Conclusion Bacterial respiratory infections were prevalent in the study area and the isolates obtained showed resistance to commonly used antibiotics such as amoxicillin, ampicillin, ciprofloxacin piperacillin ciprofloxacin, ceftazidime, piperacillin-tazobactam and cephalexin. Therefore need for a continuous surveillance of antimicrobial resistance in management of respiratory infections in the study area.