RESUMO
Respiratory tract infections (RTIs) are one of the most common infectious diseases globally imposing a significantincrease in morbidity and mortality in the developing countries. There is an exponential increase in antibioticresistance attributed to indiscriminate use of antibiotics, lack of monitoring of antibiotic susceptibility patterns, crossinfections, etc. The study was carried out to isolate and identify the common bacteria causing RTIs among the patientsattending two secondary care hospitals. Sputum and throat swab samples were collected from clinically diagnosedRTI in 50 patients, in an aseptic condition and then cultured on the appropriate bacteriological media. Antimicrobialsusceptibility testing was performed by Kirby–Bauer disk diffusion method and results were interpreted according tothe Clinical Laboratory Standards guidelines. The antibiotic susceptibility testing revealed Amikacin, Gentamicin, andCeftriaxone as highly sensitive and ciprofloxacin a widely used antibiotic in Nilgiris as the most resistant one.