Abstract
This research was conducted to investigate the spectrum of bacterial infections in HIV positive children, the correlation with CD4 count, and the antibiotic resistance patterns of the identified bacterial strains. The study focused on children aged between two and sixteen years who had their HIV status confirmed through laboratory tests, including both seropositive and seronegative cases. These participants provided sputum, blood, and stool samples for analysis to detect bacterial pathogens using established microbiological methods. Microbact identification kits were utilized to identify all bacterial isolates, and their susceptibility to antimicrobial agents was assessed. In particular, Staphylococcus aureus isolates were specifically tested for resistance to methicillin/oxacillin. A total of one thousand and two hundred samples comprising blood and faecal specimens were scrutinized to identify pathogenic and opportunistic bacteria. The prevalence of various bacterial agents among the subjects was observed to be 32.6% for respiratory tract infections, 37.7% for bacteraemia, and 56.6% for intestinal bacterial infections. Among the faecal samples, the isolated bacteria included Salmonella arizonae (4.1%), Salmonella paratyphi (5.2%), Escherichia coli (9.9%), Providencia stuartii (3.8%), Providencia alcalifaciens (5.3%), Providencia rettgeri (3.2%), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (7.1%), and others such as Proteus mirabilis (9.2%), Proteus vulgaris (1.6%), Klebsiella pneumoniae (9.6%), Hafnia alvei (3.3%), Yersinia enterocolitica (3.5%), Tatumella ptyseos (1.6%), Enterobacter sakazakii (3.1%), Enterobacter agglomerans (4.9%), Enterobacter gergoviae (3.1%), Enterobacter aerogenes (2.8%), Morganella morrgani (3.3%), Acinobacter baumannii (5.1%), Acinobacter iwoffi (3.3%), Endwardsiella tarda (3.2%), Serratia rubidaea (5.2%), Citrobacter freundii (5.6%), Klebsiella oxytoca (5.4%), and Vibro cholereae (2.2%). The blood samples revealed the presence of Salmonella arizonae (6.2%), Salmonella paratyphi (11.9%), Escherichia coli (5.3%), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (4.8%), Proteus mirabilis (8.3%), Klebsiella pneumoniae (10.8%), Hafnia alvei (2.3%), Serratia rubidaea (3.1%), Citrobacter freundii (6.0%), Klebsiella oxytoca (7.5%), Serratia marcescencs (4.3%), Staphylococcus aureus (14.1%), Streptococcus pneumoniae (8.2%), and Streptococcus pyogenes (5.2%). Furthermore, eight per cent of the Gram-positive bacteria isolated from blood samples were identified as Viridans Streptococcus and Anaerobic Streptococci.

Key words: Spectrum, Bacterial, Infections, HIV and children