Abstract
The present study was conducted to isolate pathogenic bacteria from the blood and to determine their resistance pattern with two aminoglycosides (gentamicin and amikacin). Two thousand four hundred and eleven blood samples were collected from children aged ≤ 15 years old who admitted to Kirkuk Pediatric General Hospital from Janurary2009 to August2010. The all rate of positive cases were 223 samples (9.2%) which included bacteremia in samples with the rate 83.4% for gram negative bacteria followed by 16.6% for gram positive bacteria. The following bacterial species were isolated: E.coli 91 (40.8 %), Klebsiella spp. 44 (19.7%) ,Staphylococcus aureus 34 ( 15.3%) , Pseudomonas spp. 20 (9%), Proteus spp. 20 (9%), Salmonella spp. 11 ( 4.9 %) , while Enterococcus spp. was found in only 3 culture (1.3%). The most common etiologic agents of pediatric bacteremia were E.coli andKlebsiella spp., together isolated from 60.5% of the blood samples studied. The rate of infection in males 58.8% was higher than in females 42.2% (P> 0.05).Considering the age groups the results showed that infants under one month of age were more susceptible to bacteremia than other age groups, in a rate of 114 (51.1%), but statistically the relationship between the infection and age was not significant(P> 0.05). The resistance rate of the isolated bacteria to gentamicin and amikacin was studied by disc diffusion method. The results showed the resistance rate of both gram-positive& gram –negative bacteria to amikacin were 8.1% &7.5%respectively lower than gentamicin 48.7%&25.3% respectively. Finally, amikacin was the most effective antibiotic than gentamicin among blood bacterial isolates.