ABSTRACT
Introduction: In paediatric patients blood stream infection(BSI) is the leading cause of mortality and morbidity. Theemerging of causative agents and resistance to variousantimicrobial agents are increased from time to time. The aimof this study was to describe the microbiological characteristicsof BSI in paediatric patients (<12 years). Neonates wereexcluded.Material and Methods: Data was collected from paediatricpatients who had BSI. Blood culture was done in BacT Alert3D. Isolates from these patients were identified on Vitek IICompact. Study was done between from January 2018 toDecember 2018 at Paediatric hospital GMC Srinagar.Results: A total of 120 patients had BSI. All episodes weremonomicrobial.78 (65%) were males and 42 (35%) werefemales. 67 (56%) of the isolates were Gram positive bacteriaand 53 (44%) were Gram negative. The commonest Grampositive bacterial isolates were Staphylococcus aureus 52(78%) followed by Coagulase negative Staphylococci (CoNS)8 (12%), Enterococcus fecalis 4(6%) and Streptococcuspneumonia 3(4%).Conclusion: Majority of the isolates were multidrug resistant.These higher percentages of multi-drug resistant emergedisolates urge us to take infection prevention measures and toconduct other large studies for appropriate empiric antibioticchoice.