Objective: There are reports of changing microbial profile of ascitic fluid in spontaneous bacterial peritonitis (SBP) and developing resistance of these bacteria to commonly used antibiotics. This study was done to determine the micro-organism causing SBP and their sensitivity to various antibiotics.

Setting and Methods: This observational study was done in Medical department of Sheikh Zayed Medical College/Hospital, Rahim Yar Khan from March to November 2019. Thirty five cirrhotic patients with ascites admitted in ward for various reasons and having positive ascitic fluid culture were included in the study. Exclusion criteria was presence of secondary bacterial peritonitis. Ten ml of ascitic fluid was inoculated in blood culture bottle and sent immediately to hospital laboratory.

Results: The mean age of these 35 patients was 48.94 ± 13.51 years with a range of 19 to 80 years. Twenty (57.1 %) patients were male and 15 (42.9 %) were female. Bacteria that had caused SBP were E.coli (62.9 %), staph aureus (11.4 %), klebsiella (8.6 %), streptococci (8.6 %), gram positive cocci (5.7 %) and pseudomonas aeruginosa (2.8 %). Imipenem had high sensitivity rate (100 %) along with amikacin (82.9 %) and cefoperazone-sulbactam (68.6 %). Sensitivity of these organisms to other commonly used antibiotics were: ciprofloxacin 57.1 %, ofloxacin 40 %, norfloxacin 37.1 %, ceftazidime 34.3 %, ceftriaxone 31.4 % and piperacillin-tazobactam 25.7 %.

Conclusion: We found that E.coli was the commonest bacteria causing SBP, and ceftriaxone and ciprofloxacin have significantly high resistance rate in these patients.