Antibiotic use and resistance patterns at Rumphi District Hospital in Malawi: a cross-sectional study

The study investigated antibiotic use and resistance patterns among patients with suspected first-line antibiotic treatment failure at Rumphi District Hospital, Malawi. A total of 85 patients’ data records were reviewed, with Metronidazole (23%), Gentamycin (20%), and Doxycycline (23%) as the most frequently used antibiotics. Chloramphenicol (61%), ciprofloxacin (55%), and ceftriaxone (54%) were among the antibiotics with over 50% sensitivity. Penicillins were among the antibiotics with highest resistance. The study highlights the need to revamp diagnostic microbiology to increase the uptake of antimicrobial susceptibility testing to guide specific prescriptions of broad-spectrum antibiotics in the watch list.