Bacteriological profile and antibiotic sensitivity pattern in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a progressive chronic disease, which is characterized by obstinate obstruction of airflow with an enhanced chronic inflammatory response in the airways and the lung to toxic elements or gases. COPD is a major etiology of morbidity and one among the primary causes of the death globally. The objective of this study is to analyze the bacteriological profile of the patients with COPD and also to study their antimicrobial sensitivity pattern, which may help to scheme a proper antibiotic treatment to the COPD patients, which will have a beneficial effect in preventing the morbidity and mortality of the disease. A narrative review of the literature was carried out after a bibliographical search on the database PubMed, Science Direct and Scopus and active search lists of bibliographical references of articles selected up to November 2019. According to various studies addressed, the causative agents in COPD from both sputum and bronchoscopic samples are found to be Haemophilus influenza, Streptococcus pneumoniae, and Moraxella catarrhalis. However, to conclude, the bacterial flora in COPD varies with disease severity as Gram-negative organisms, such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa are more commonly detected in patients with more severe airflow obstruction in both stable COPD and in exacerbations.