Bacteremia in Childhood Life-Threatening Infections in Urban Gambia: EUCLIDS in West Africa

Community-acquired multidrug-resistant Enterobacter cloacae sepsis in a 25-month-old child in rural Gambia: A case report

Enterobacter cloacae is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in the genus Enterobacter. It mostly causes nosocomial infections, especially in children, the elderly and those with underlying diseases. However, cases of community-acquired bacteraemia caused by E. cloacae have been reported. The increasing inclination of E. cloacae to cause multidrug-resistant infections has made it particularly challenging to treat. A 25-month-old male child presented to a rural hospital in The Gambia with a one-week history of persistent high-grade fever, dyspnoea, and anorexia. Two days before presentation, he began to have generalized tonic-clonic seizures. On examination, he was found to be febrile, dyspnoeic, pale, and tachycardic. He had a modified Glasgow Coma Scale score of 9/15. Investigations revealed an elevated C-reactive protein, low haemoglobin, and elevated white blood cell count. Cerebrospinal fluid culture did not yield any growth. E. cloacae was isolated from a blood culture taken on the day of admission. The pathogen was resistant to all available antibiotics. He was transfused with whole blood and initially treated empirically with amoxicillin-clavulanic acid and gentamicin. The former was changed to cefuroxime because the child had not improved. The child died nine days after admission. Although E. cloacae is primarily known for causing nosocomial infections, fatal community-acquired infections also occur. This case report demonstrates the difficulty in treating multidrug-resistant E. cloacae in a low-resource setting and its propensity to cause fatal infections.

Microbiological Profiles and Inflammatory Biomarkers of Bacteremia in Children in a Teaching Hospital in Kuwait: An 8-Year Retrospective Study

OBJECTIVES

The objectives of this study were to determine the bacterial profiles and prevalence of antibiotic resistance patterns of bacteria causing bacteremia in febrile children and to compare levels of inflammatory markers between children with and without bacteremia in Kuwait from 2015 to 2022.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Isolates from all episodes of significant bacteremia (n = 96) during the study period were recorded and evaluated. Microorganisms were identified using standard microbiological methods. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing was carried out using the VITEK2 system and Etest method. Extended-spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL) production by Enterobacterales was detected by the double-disk diffusion method and VITEK2 system. Patient age, gender, and inflammatory markers were collected at admission and compared between patients with and without bacteremia.

RESULTS

A majority of the patients were infants (37, 40%) and newborns (13, 14%). The main ports of entry were the lower respiratory tract, the genitourinary tract, and the gastrointestinal tract. Streptococcus pneumoniae was the most common pathogen (16, 16.7%) followed by Escherichia coli (12, 12.5%), Staphylococcus aureus (10, 10.4%), and Streptococcus agalactiae (9, 9.4%). High rates of resistance to ampicillin, cefuroxime, ciprofloxacin, and trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole were observed among the Enterobacterales. The prevalence of ESBL-producing E. coli and K. pneumoniae were 45% and 29%, respectively. The prevalence of methicillin-resistant S. aureus was 30%. Patients with bacteremia had significantly higher white blood cell (WBC) counts, absolute neutrophil count (ANC), C-reactive protein (CRP), and neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR).

CONCLUSION

Continuous surveillance of the prevalence and antimicrobial susceptibility patterns of blood isolates is imperative for the formulation of antibiotic policy. WBC, ANC, CRP, and NLR could be valuable indicators of bacteremia in febrile children.

Antimicrobial Resistance Profile of Bacteria Causing Pediatric Infections at the University Teaching Hospital in Rwanda

Bacterial infections pose a global threat, especially in the pediatric population. Antimicrobials that are used to treat such infections continuously show reduced efficacy, and empirical therapy is a major treatment option in Rwanda. This study aimed to determine the resistance rate of commonly used antibiotics in pediatric patients. The study was conducted from June 1, 2018 to May 30, 2019, and microbiological samples were collected from 712 children with suspected bacterial infections. Antimicrobial sensitivity testing was performed on 177 positive cultures (24%) that were considered for data analysis. The findings show that the major bacterial isolates were Klebsiella pneumoniae (n = 50, 28.2%), Escherichia coli (n = 47, 26.5%), and Staphylococcus aureus (n = 38, 21.4%). In general, the greatest antibiotic resistance rate was observed in ampicillin (n = 125, 86.2%), amoxicillin-clavulanic acid (n = 84, 82.4%), amoxicillin (n = 64, 79%), cefadroxil (n = 83, 69.2%), tetracycline (n = 72, 59.7%), ceftazidime (n = 42, 55.3%), and cefuroxime (n = 14, 53.8%). More specifically, Klebsiella pneumoniae was 100% resistant to amoxicillin-clavulanic acid, cefuroxime, trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, ceftazidime, erythromycin, and clindamycin. Staphylococcus aureus was 86.7% resistant to ampicillin, and Escherichia coli was 91.7% resistant to tetracycline, 90.6% resistant to ampicillin, 83.3% resistant to amoxicillin-clavulanic acid, 79.3% resistant to cefadroxil, and 78.6% resistant to ceftazidime. Moreover, Klebsiella pneumoniae from blood and urine was 96.8% and 100% sensitive, respectively, to meropenem. Staphylococcus aureus from blood was 100% sensitive to vancomycin, whereas Escherichia coli from urine was sensitive to clindamycin (100%), nitrofurantoin (80.6%), and ciprofloxacin (72.7%). In conclusion, our findings show a high resistance rate to commonly used antibiotics, which suggests precaution in empirical therapy and continued surveillance of antimicrobial resistance.

Baseline study for improving diagnostic stewardship at secondary health care facilities in Nigeria

Background

Blood culture diagnostics are critical tools for sepsis management and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) surveillance. A baseline study was conducted to assess reported sepsis case finding, blood culture diagnostics, antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST) and antimicrobial use at secondary health care facilities to inform the development of diagnostic stewardship improvement strategies in Nigeria.

Methods

A cross-sectional online survey was conducted among 25 public secondary health care facilities in Abuja, Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and Lagos State in Nigeria to evaluate the capacity for pathogen identification and AST. Data were then prospectively extracted on all patients with reported suspected sepsis from electronic medical records from selected departments at two facilities in the Federal Capital Territory from October 2020 to May 2021 to further assess practices concerning sepsis case-finding, clinical examination findings, samples requested, and laboratory test results. Data were descriptively analysed, and a multivariate logistic regression analysis was conducted to determine factors associated with blood culture requests.

Results

In the online survey, 32% (8/25) of facilities reported performing blood cultures. Only one had access to a clinical microbiologist, and 28% (7/25) and 4% (1/25) used standard bacterial organisms for quality control of media and quality control strains for AST, respectively. At the two facilities where data abstraction was performed, the incidence of suspected sepsis cases reported was 7.1% (2924/41066). A majority of these patients came from the paediatrics department and were outpatients, and the median age was two years. Most did not have vital signs and major foci of infection documented. Blood cultures were only requested for 2.7% (80/2924) of patients, of which twelve were positive for bacteria, mainly Staphylococcus aureus. No clinical breakpoints were used for AST. Inpatients (adjusted odds ratio [aOR]: 7.5, 95% CI: 4.6–12.3) and patients from the urban health care facility (aOR:16.9, 95% CI: 8.1–41.4) were significantly more likely to have a blood culture requested.

Conclusion

Low blood culture utilisation remains a key challenge in Nigeria. This has implications for patient care, AMR surveillance and antibiotic use. Diagnostic stewardship strategies should focus on improving access to clinical microbiology expertise, practical guidance on sepsis case finding and improving blood culture utilisation and diagnostics.

Improving empiric antibiotic prescribing in pediatric bloodstream infections: a potential application of weighted-incidence syndromic combination antibiograms (WISCA)

Background: Increasing antibiotic resistance to WHO-recommended first- and second-line treatments of pediatric sepsis requires adaptation of prescribing guidelines. We discuss the potential and limitations of a weighted-incidence syndromic combination antibiogram (WISCA) as a practical tool for incorporating local microbiology data when assessing empiric coverage of commonly used antibiotics.Research design and methods: A brief questionnaire of 18 clinically significant isolates from pediatric blood cultures (Jan-Dec 2018) was sent to a global network of pediatric hospitals in July 2019. Weighted coverage estimates of non-antipseudomonal third-generation cephalosporins (3GC) and meropenem were estimated using Monte-Carlo simulation for each site reporting >100 isolates.Results: 52 hospitals in 23 countries in 5 WHO regions responded to the questionnaire; 13 sites met the sample size requirement. The most common isolates were S. aureus, Klebsiella spp., E. coli and Enterococcus spp. Coverage of 3GC ranged from 39% [95%CrI: 34-43%] to 73% (two sites: [95%CrI: 65-80%]; [95%CrI: 68-86%]) and meropenem coverage ranged from 54% [95%CrI: 47-60%] to 88% [95%CrI:84-91%].Conclusions: A WISCA is a data-driven, clinically intuitive tool that can be used to compare empiric antibiotic regimens for pediatric sepsis using existing large datasets. The estimates can be further refined using more complex meta-analytical methods and patient characteristics.

A Novel Framework for Phenotyping Children With Suspected or Confirmed Infection for Future Biomarker Studies

Background: The limited diagnostic accuracy of biomarkers in children at risk of a serious bacterial infection (SBI) might be due to the imperfect reference standard of SBI. We aimed to evaluate the diagnostic performance of a new classification algorithm for biomarker discovery in children at risk of SBI. Methods: We used data from five previously published, prospective observational biomarker discovery studies, which included patients aged 0- <16 years: the Alder Hey emergency department (n = 1,120), Alder Hey pediatric intensive care unit (n = 355), Erasmus emergency department (n = 1,993), Maasstad emergency department (n = 714) and St. Mary's hospital (n = 200) cohorts. Biomarkers including procalcitonin (PCT) (4 cohorts), neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin-2 (NGAL) (3 cohorts) and resistin (2 cohorts) were compared for their ability to classify patients according to current standards (dichotomous classification of SBI vs. non-SBI), vs. a proposed PERFORM classification algorithm that assign patients to one of eleven categories. These categories were based on clinical phenotype, test outcomes and C-reactive protein level and accounted for the uncertainty of final diagnosis in many febrile children. The success of the biomarkers was measured by the Area under the receiver operating Curves (AUCs) when they were used individually or in combination. Results: Using the new PERFORM classification system, patients with clinically confident bacterial diagnosis ("definite bacterial" category) had significantly higher levels of PCT, NGAL and resistin compared with those with a clinically confident viral diagnosis ("definite viral" category). Patients with diagnostic uncertainty had biomarker concentrations that varied across the spectrum. AUCs were higher for classification of "definite bacterial" vs. "definite viral" following the PERFORM algorithm than using the "SBI" vs. "non-SBI" classification; summary AUC for PCT was 0.77 (95% CI 0.72-0.82) vs. 0.70 (95% CI 0.65-0.75); for NGAL this was 0.80 (95% CI 0.69-0.91) vs. 0.70 (95% CI 0.58-0.81); for resistin this was 0.68 (95% CI 0.61-0.75) vs. 0.64 (0.58-0.69) The three biomarkers combined had summary AUC of 0.83 (0.77-0.89) for "definite bacterial" vs. "definite viral" infections and 0.71 (0.67-0.74) for "SBI" vs. "non-SBI." Conclusion: Biomarkers of bacterial infection were strongly associated with the diagnostic categories using the PERFORM classification system in five independent cohorts. Our proposed algorithm provides a novel framework for phenotyping children with suspected or confirmed infection for future biomarker studies.

Impact of routine vaccination against Haemophilus influenzae type b in The Gambia: 20 years after its introduction

Background

In 1997, The Gambia introduced three primary doses of Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) conjugate vaccine without a booster in its infant immunisation programme along with establishment of a population-based surveillance on Hib meningitis in the West Coast Region (WCR). This surveillance was stopped in 2002 with reported elimination of Hib disease. This was re-established in 2008 but stopped again in 2010. We aimed to re-establish the surveillance in WCR and to continue surveillance in Basse Health and Demographic Surveillance System (BHDSS) in the east of the country to assess any shifts in the epidemiology of Hib disease in The Gambia.

Methods

In WCR, population-based surveillance for Hib meningitis was re-established in children aged under-10 years from 24 December 2014 to 31 March 2017, using conventional microbiology and Real Time Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR). In BHDSS, population-based surveillance for Hib disease was conducted in children aged 2-59 months from 12 May 2008 to 31 December 2017 using conventional microbiology only. Hib carriage survey was carried out in pre-school and school children from July 2015 to November 2016.

Results

In WCR, five Hib meningitis cases were detected using conventional microbiology while another 14 were detected by RT-PCR. Of the 19 cases, two (11%) were too young to be protected by vaccination while seven (37%) were unvaccinated. Using conventional microbiology, the incidence of Hib meningitis per 100 000-child-year (CY) in children aged 1-59 months was 0.7 in 2015 (95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.0-3.7) and 2.7 (95% CI = 0.7-7.0) in 2016. In BHDSS, 25 Hib cases were reported. Nine (36%) were too young to be protected by vaccination and five (20%) were under-vaccinated for age. Disease incidence peaked in 2012-2013 at 15 per 100 000 CY and fell to 5-8 per 100 000 CY over the subsequent four years. The prevalence of Hib carriage was 0.12% in WCR and 0.38% in BHDSS.

Conclusions

After 20 years of using three primary doses of Hib vaccine without a booster Hib transmission continues in The Gambia, albeit at low rates. Improved coverage and timeliness of vaccination are of high priority for Hib disease in settings like Gambia, and there are currently no clear indications of a need for a booster dose.

Altered Mental Status Among Febrile Hospitalized HIV-Infected Children Aged 0-59 Months in Mozambique

BACKGROUND

Altered mental status (AMS) is a priority presenting sign that must be assessed in HIV-infected, febrile children, yet diagnosis is difficult in areas with limited diagnostic capacity. Malaria and bacterial meningitis have been reported as the most common causes of AMS in febrile children presenting to the hospital in sub-Saharan Africa. However, in an HIV-infected child, central nervous system manifestations are diverse.

METHODS

We conducted a clinical observational study of HIV-infected febrile children, aged 0-59 months, hospitalized in Mozambique and prospectively followed. Within this cohort, a nested study was designed to characterize children admitted with AMS and to assess factors associated with mortality. Univariate and multivariable analysis were performed comparing characteristics of the cohort by AMS status and evaluated demographic and clinical factors by in-hospital mortality outcome.

RESULTS

In total, 727 children were enrolled between April 2016 and February 2019, 16% had AMS at admission. HIV-infected, febrile children, who presented with AMS and who had a diagnosis of bacteremia, had a 4-fold increased relative odds of in-hospital mortality, and children who presented with neurologic symptoms on admission had a roughly 8-fold higher odds of in-hospital mortality relative to children without presenting neurologic findings.

CONCLUSIONS

Mozambique has a pressing need to expand local diagnostic capacity. Our results highlight the critical need for clinicians to incorporate a broader differential into their potential causes of AMS, and to develop a Ministry of Health approved diagnostic and management algorithm, which is standardly used, to manage patients for whom reliable and relevant diagnostic services are not available.