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. 2024 Sep 13;13(9):879.
doi: 10.3390/antibiotics13090879.

Assessment of Antibiotic Resistance in Pediatric Infections: A Romanian Case Study on Pathogen Prevalence and Effective Treatments

Maria Madalina Singer  1 , Renata Maria Văruț  2 , Cristina Popescu  3 , Kristina Radivojevic  4 , Luciana Teodora Rotaru  5 , Damian Roni Octavian  5 , Banicioiu Mihai-Covei  5 , Mihaela Popescu  6 , Oancea Andreea Irina  7 , Dragos Oancea  8 , Alin Iulian Silviu Popescu  9 , Cristina Elena Singer  10
Affiliations

Assessment of Antibiotic Resistance in Pediatric Infections: A Romanian Case Study on Pathogen Prevalence and Effective Treatments

Maria Madalina Singer et al. Antibiotics (Basel). .

Abstract

Antibiotic misuse in Romania has exacerbated the issue of antibiotic resistance, as patients often use antibiotics without proper medical consultation. This study aimed to assess the resistance of prevalent bacteria to different antibiotics. In this observational study conducted over six months, we analyzed 31 pediatric patients aged from 12 days to 13 years using the disk diffusion method. We identified 31 bacterial isolates, including 8 Gram-negative and 8 Gram-positive strains, with the most common being Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escherichia coli, Streptococcus pneumoniae, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus species, and Elizabethkingia meningoseptica. Our findings revealed that the most effective antibiotics were linezolid, ertapenem, and teicoplanin. In contrast, nearly all tested bacteria exhibited resistance to penicillin, followed by oxacillin and ampicillin. Resistance to cephalosporins varied with generation, showing higher resistance to lower-generation cephalosporins. The study highlights significant antibiotic resistance among common bacterial pathogens in Romanian pediatric patients, emphasizing the urgent need for controlled antibiotic use and alternative treatment strategies to combat this growing issue. Effective antibiotics such as linezolid and ertapenem offer potential solutions, whereas reliance on penicillin and lower-generation cephalosporins is increasingly futile.

Keywords: antibiogram; antibiotic resistance; bacterial pathogens; pediatric infections.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Frequency distribution of pediatric conditions by number of appearances.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Percentages of different bacterial pathogens identified in the study population, representing the global proportion of each bacterial type across all pathologies. Bacterial species have been highlighted with distinct colors (Staphylococcus species: gray; Acinetobacter species: green; Streptococcus species: orange).
Figure 3
Figure 3
(A) Percentages of different pathologies diagnosed in our patients. (B) Age distribution of pathologies in pediatric patients.
Figure 3
Figure 3
(A) Percentages of different pathologies diagnosed in our patients. (B) Age distribution of pathologies in pediatric patients.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Global antibiotic activity against bacterial pathogens in pediatric patients.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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