High prevalence of multidrug resistant Enterobacteriaceae isolated from outpatient urine samples but not the hospital environment in Bo, Sierra Leone. Issue 1 (December 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Leski, Tomasz; Taitt, Chris; Bangura, Umaru; Stockelman, Michael; Ansumana, Rashid; Cooper, William; Stenger, David; Vora, Gary
• Is Part Of: BMC infectious diseases. Volume 16:Issue 1(2016)
• Page Start: 1
• Page End: 9
• Publication Date: 2016-12
• Subjects: Citrobacter -- MDR -- ESBL -- CHROMagar -- Sierra Leone; Communicable diseases -- Periodicals; Sexually Transmitted Diseases -- Periodicals; 616.905
• DOI: 10.1186/s12879-016-1495-1
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1471-2334

Abstract

Abstract Background The rising level of antimicrobial resistance among bacterial pathogens is one of the most significant public health problems globally. While the antibiotic resistance of clinically important bacteria is closely tracked in many developed countries, the types and levels of resistance and multidrug resistance (MDR) among pathogens currently circulating in most countries of sub-Saharan Africa are virtually unknown. Methods From December 2013 to April 2014, we collected 93 urine specimens from all outpatients showing symptoms of urinary tract infection (UTI) and 189 fomite swabs from a small hospital in Bo, Sierra Leone. Culture on chromogenic agar combined with biochemical and DNA sequence-based assays was used to detect and identify the bacterial isolates. Their antimicrobial susceptibilities were determined using a panel of 11 antibiotics or antibiotic combinations. Results The 70Enterobacteriaceae urine isolates were identified asCitrobacter freundii (n = 22), Klebsiella pneumoniae (n = 15), Enterobacter cloacae (n = 15), Escherichia coli (n = 13), Enterobacter sp./Leclercia sp. (n = 4) andEscherichia hermannii (n = 1). Antimicrobial susceptibility testing demonstrated that 85.7 % of these isolates were MDR while 64.3 % produced an extended-spectrum ß-lactamase (ESBL). The most notable observations included widespread resistance to sulphonamides (91.4 %), chloramphenicol (72.9 %), gentamycin (72.9 %), ampicillin with sulbactam (51.4 %) and ciprofloxacin (47.1 %) withC. freundii exhibiting the highest andE. coli the lowest prevalence of multidrug resistance. The environmental cultures resulted in only fiveEnterobacteriaceae isolates out of 189 collected with lower overall antibiotic resistance. Conclusions The surprisingly high proportion ofC. freundii found in urine of patients with suspected UTI supports earlier findings of the growing role of this pathogen in UTIs in low-resource countries. The isolates of all analyzed species showed worryingly high levels of resistance to both first- and second-line antibiotics as well as a high frequency of MDR and ESBL phenotypes, which likely resulted from the lack of consistent antibiotic stewardship policies in Sierra Leone. Analysis of hospital environmental isolates however suggested that fomites in this naturally ventilated hospital were not a major reservoir forEnterobacteriaceae or antibiotic resistance determinants.