Isolation of Bacteria from Adult Patients with Recurrent or Chronic Pharyngitis in Baquba Teaching Hospital

Abstract

Pharyngitis is the third most common chief complaint in outpatient healthcare clinics. In most cases of pharyngitis, the most common causes are infectious in origin. This infection can result in a very large tonsils, which cause troubles in swallowing and breathing. The purpose of this study is to determine the efficacy of throat swab together with the most common bacterial species that can be isolated from smear samples obtained from pharyngeal swabs in patients with chronic or recurrent pharyngitis. This may help in better understanding and accurate treatment of this disease. This prospective study was conducted on adult outpatients with recurrent pharyngitis. In total, 100 throat swab samples were taken from selected patients with chronic pharyngitis referred to the outpatient (ear, nose and throat) Department in Baquba Teaching Hospital. The number of female cases were (42) with an age range of 19 to 55 years, while the number of male cases were (58) and aged with an age of 16 to 70 years. After that, these samples were sent for culture and sensitivity. Individuals with recurrent pharyngitis have normal flora in 53% of cultured swabs. Streptococcus pyogenes has been isolated from 25% of cases, Staphylococcus aureus from 5%, Pseudomonas aeruginosa from 1%, Corynebacterium diphtheria from 1% and E.coli 5% while no growth has been obtained in 10% of samples. This study suggests that adult patients who have pharyngitis involving the palatine tonsils more than three times per year can benefit from throat swab for culture and sensitivity for rapid detection of pathogenic bacteria and for the selection of the appropriate antibiotic treatment.