Antibiotic susceptibility increases in pediatric community-acquired sepsis in Ethiopia

Bacteriemia-inducing sepsis imposes a high health risk among children in developing countries especially Africa. Unfortunately, a limited number of morbidity and mortality cases are reported in Ethiopia, which could lead to ineffective preventive measures. A study published in The Journal of Infection in Developing Countries investigated the etiological agents involved in causing community-acquired (CA) bacteremia and their antibiotic resistance pattern to control the rising number of infectious cases.

The lead author, Abel Abera Negash reported, “there are there major species detected in the developing countries namely Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella spp. and Escherichia coli that account for 55% septic cases among neonate patients whereas among the infants in addition to these three S. pneumonia and  Salmonella spp were also identified accounting for 59% cases.”

Moreover, the team identified that with the introduction of the vaccine, there was a change in course of sepsis among the pediatric population. This led to the establishment that the vaccine not only altered the rate and causative factor distribution but also controlled the risk factors as well. Thus leading to better treatment outcomes in pediatric patients.

To present the updated mortality and morbidity rate of sepsis infection among children, Abel collected blood samples from two major hospitals with children ranging from 0 to 15 years. The author identified, “the cultural test displayed presences of culture-positive CAS in 18.81% cases with S. pneumonia and Klebsiella pneumonia in 21.1% patients (21.1%), the most common source of sepsis. In addition, the team pointed out, “50 % of patients reported resistance against gentamicin, the standard treatment used to cure sepsis in combination with ampicillin. Thus, imposing high risk for treatment failure.”

Therefore, the study concluded that a substantial amount of resistance has been developed to the commonly used CAS treatment, which increases the risk of high mortality in Ethiopia for pediatric patients.