Epidemiology and Sensitivity Profile of Blood Culture Isolates at The Pediatric University Hospital of Bangui

Abstract

Bogning Mejiozem Brice Olivier, Victoire NGatimo, Gody Jean Chrysostome

Background: Bacteremia are serious and dreaded diseases, due to their high associated mortality, for which blood culture is the key examination for establishing the diagnosis. Little is known about the epidemiology of sepsis in the Central African Republic (CAR).

Objective: To determine the epidemiology and antibiotic susceptibility profile of bacteria isolated from blood cultures in the CHUPB, in order to optimize the probabilistic antibiotic therapy used in first line.

Methodology: This was a cross-sectional study conducted at the University Hospital of Bangui (CHUPB) over a period of 12 months (January 1 to December 31, 2021), covering all bacteria isolated from blood cultures taken from children hospitalized in intensive care and neonatal intensive care units. The data were analyzed with the STATA version 14 software. The Chisquare test and ANOVA test were used to compare proportions at the p<0.05 threshold.

Results: Out of four hundred and fifty-five blood cultures performed during the 12 months, the positivity rate was 13.17% (n=56/425). The neonatal intensive care unit had a positivity rate of 75% (n=42) versus 25% (n=14) for the intensive care unit. The mean age of the blood culture positive children was 19 days (3 days to 15 years) and the sex ratio was 1.94. Among the 56 isolates, a high prevalence of gram-negative bacilli 98.21% (n=55) was noted. The most frequently isolated species were Klebsiella pneumoniae 75% (n=42) and Escherichia coli 19.64% (n=11). Staphylococcus aureus 1.78%(n=1) was the only Gram-positive cocci isolated. Enterobacteriaceae were multi-resistant to empirical antibiotics at CHUPB. Only Tigecycline and Amikacin were still more than 90% sensitive to Klebsiella pneumoniae. Escherichia coli had a sensitivity greater than 80% for Ertapenem, Imipenem and chloramphenicol.

Conclusion: This study, which was the first at the CHUPB, underlined the importance of regular monitoring of blood culture isolates, while determining antibiotic sensitivities in order to better guide the probabilistic antibiotic therapy of bacteremia. Key words : Blood cultures - epidemiology - isolates - CHUPB.

PDF