Eighty five patients with suspected sepsis were enrolled in this study during the
period from August 2013 to July 2014. The causative organisms were isolated and
identified to the species level using API 20 strips as a biochemical identification
system. The isolates were tested for antibiotic sensitivity by the disc diffusion
method. All isolates were screened for metallo- lactamase (MBLs) and extended
spectrum - Lactamase (ESBL) production by the imipenem/EDTA combined
disk test (CDT) and double disc diffusion tests respectively. The percentage of
CD4+CD25+T reg cells and CD4+T helper cells in sepsis patients and in 30 age-and
gender-matched healthy subjects as the control group were determined by the
flowcytometer to determine the possible increase in Treg number and /or disturbed
Treg/T helper cell ratio. Over the study period 68 (80%) patients had sepsis. Gramnegative
bacteria were isolated in 60.3% of cases and Gram- positive bacteria in
33.8 % and 5.9% of sepsis cases were caused by candida species. There was a wide
spread of multidrug resistance in the isolates. There was suppression of patients'
immune response, as demonstrated by the number increase of Treg in patients
during sepsis. There was significant increase in the percentage of CD4+CD25+ Treg
cells in the sepsis group (4.8±2.5%) in comparison to the normal control group
(1.9±0.7%) with P-value < 0.05. Also, the T reg/T helper cell ratio was highly
statistically significant higher in sepsis group (0.0956) than in the normal control
group (0.0286) with P-value < 0.001.