Abstract
Objective: To determine the most common pathogens responsible for neonatal sepsis and their antimicrobial sensitivity.
Materials and Methods: This retrospective chart review study was carried out at two military hospitals; Prince Ali military hospital, located in south of Jordan and Prince Hashem military hospital, located in east of Jordan, during the period from January 2008 to January 2010. All patients with suspected neonatal sepsis who were admitted either to the neonatal intensive care unit or to the pediatric word during the study period were included. Blood culture results and their antibiotic sensitivity where collected and analyzed.
Results: A total of 2872 admissions with clinical diagnosis of neonatal sepsis; (1181 at Prince Ali hospital and 1691 at Prince Hashem hospital). Positive blood culture was found in 397 cases with overall contamination rate 13.8% (17% at Prince Ali hospital and 11.6% at Prince Hashem hospital). Isolated pathogens in Prince Ali hospital with early and late onset sepsis were 74.1% (149) and 25.9% (52) respectively whereas, the early and late onset sepsis in Prince Hashem hospital were 53.3% (95) and 46.7% (83) respectively. The most common isolated pathogens were Coagulase negative Staphylococci, E. coli, and Klebsiella spp with high resistance to commonly used antibiotics.
Conclusion: Coagulase negative staphylococcus is a major cause of neonatal sepsis at our hospitals. Initial empirical treatment with ampicillin and gentamicin is inadequate. The least resistant antibiotic were imipenem, and vancomycin and advised to consider them in the initial empiric treatment of neonatal sepsis.

Key words: Septicemia, neonates, early onset sepsis, late onset sepsis, antimicrobial resistance.