Browsing by Author "Appiah-Korang, L."
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Item Antimicrobial use in hospitalized patients: a multicentre point prevalence survey across seven hospitals in Ghana(JAC Antimicrob Resist, 2023) Appiah-Korang, L.; Obeng-Nkrumah, N.; Sampane-Donkor, E.; et al.Background: Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a public health crisis of global proportions. Data is required to understand the local drivers of antimicrobial resistance and support decision-making processes including implementation of appropriate antimicrobial stewardship strategies. Objectives: To measure antimicrobial usage in hospitals in Ghana. Methods: Using the Global Point Prevalence instruments and processes, we conducted point prevalence surveys across AMR surveillance sentinel hospitals in Ghana, between September and December 2019. Hospital records of all inpatients on admission at 0800 hours on a specific day were reviewed for antimicrobial use at the time of the survey. Data on antibiotic use, including indication for use and quality of prescribing were recorded. Results: Overall prevalence of antibiotic use across the sentinel sites was 54.9% (n " 1591/2897), ranging be tween 48.4% (n " 266/550) and 67.2% (n " 82/122). The highest prevalence of antibiotic use 89.3% (n " 25/28) was observed in adult ICUs. The average number of antibiotics prescribed per patient was 1.7 (n " 1562/2620), with the majority (66%, n " 728/2620) administered via the parenteral route. The five most-commonly used antibiotics were metronidazole (20.6%, n " 541/2620), cefuroxime (12.9%, n " 338/2620), ceftriaxone (11.8%, n " 310/2620), amoxicillin/clavulanic acid (8.8%, n " 231/2620) and ciprofloxacin (7.8%, n " 204/2620). The majority (52.2%; n " 1367/2620) of antibiotics were prescribed to treat an infection, whilst surgical prophylaxis accounted for 26.1% (n " 684/2620). Conclusions: We observed a high use of antibiotics including metronidazole and cephalosporins at the participating hospitals. Most antibiotics were empirically prescribed, with low use of microbiological cultures. High usage of third-generation cephalosporins especially for community-acquired infections offers an opportun ity for antibiotic stewardship interventions.Item Pneumococcal carriage among children under five in Accra, Ghana, five years after the introduction of pneumococcal conjugate vaccine(BMC Pediatrics, 2019-09-05) Dayie, N.T.K.D.; Tettey, E.Y.; Newman, M.J.; Bannerman, E.; Donkor, E.S.; Appiah-Korang, L.; Hans-Christian, S.Background: The study objective was to determine the carriage and serotype distribution of Streptococcus pneumoniae among children in Accra, Ghana, five years after the introduction of the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV-13) in 2012. Methods: Nasopharyngeal swab samples were collected from 410 children below 5 years of age in Accra, Ghana, from September to December, 2016. Pneumococcal isolates were identified by optochin sensitivity and bile solubility. Serotyping was performed using the latex agglutination kit and Quellung reaction. The isolates were furthermore tested for antimicrobial susceptibility for different antimicrobials, including penicillin (PEN). Twelve isolates including seven non-typeable (NT) isolates were characterized using whole-genome sequencing analysis (WGS). Results: The overall carriage prevalence was found to be 54% (95% CI, 49–59%), and 20% (95% CI, 49–59%) of the children were carrying PCV-13 included serotypes, while 37% (95% CI, 33–42%) of the children were carrying non- PCV-13 serotypes. Based on the serotype distribution, 33% of all observed serotypes were included in PCV-13 while 66% were non-PCV-13 serotypes. The dominating non-PCV-13 serotypes were 23B, 16F, and 11A followed by PCV- 13 serotypes 23F and 19F. The PCV-13 covers the majority of resistant isolates in Accra. A proportion of 22.3% of the isolates showed intermediate resistance to penicillin G, while only one isolate showed full resistance. Forty-five isolates (20.5%) were defined as multidrug-resistant (MDR) as they were intermediate/resistant to three or more classes of antimicrobials. Of the seven NT isolates characterized by WGS, four showed highest match to genotype 38, while the remaining three showed highest match to genotype 14. Four MDR serotype 19A isolates were found to be MLST 320. Conclusion: PCV-13 introduced in Ghana did not eliminate PCV-13 covered serotypes, and the carriage rate of 54% in this study is similar to carriage studies from pre PCV-13 period. However, the penicillin non-susceptible isolates have been reduced from 45% of carriage isolates before PCV-13 introduction to 22.3% of the isolates in this study. Continuous monitoring of serotype distribution is important, and in addition, an evaluation of an alternative vaccination schedule from 3 + 0 to 2 + 1 will be important to considerItem Salmonella blood stream infections in a tertiary care setting in Ghana(BMC Infectious Diseases, 2014) Appiah-Korang, L.; Obeng-Nkrumah, N.; Addison, N.O.; Donkor, E.S.Background: Despite the clinical significance of Salmonella infections, surveillance data worldwide remains limited and is more so exemplified by the lack of reports from Africa especially in eastern, central and western Africa. This study reports on Salmonella serotypes as significant causes of blood stream infections (BSI) and multidrug antibiotic resistance at Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital in Accra, Ghana. Methods: Antibiogram patterns, seasonal variations in disease incidence and predisposing factors for infection with Salmonella serotypes were analyzed retrospectively over a 4-year period from January 2010 to December 2013. Blood cultures were processed with BACTEC 9240 blood culture system. Speciation was done with BBL Crystal Enteric/Nonfermenter identification system®, and with slide agglutination using specific antisera. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing was carried out by the Kirby-Bauer disc diffusion method according to Clinical and Laboratory Standard Institute guidelines. Results: We report a 6.5% (n = 181/2768) prevalence of Salmonella bacteraemia at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital; with a preponderance of non-typhoidal salmonellae (NTS) over typhoidal salmonella (TS) (n = 115/181, 63.5% versus n = 66/181, 36.5%; P-value <0.002). Children under 5 years bore the brunt of the disease (n = 93/174, 53.4%). Resistance to ciprofloxacin (n = 1/127, 0.7%), amikacin (n = 3/81, 3.7%), and cefotaxime (n = 6/99, 6.1%) remained low, despite high levels of multidrug resistant Salmonella phenotypes (n = 81/181, 44.2%). In multivariate analysis, and among patients with Salmonella BSI, those < 1 year old had reduced risk of non-typhoidal infections [Odds ratio, 0.51; 95% confidence interval (95% CI), 0.16-0.92, P-value 0.021]. Similarly, patients with cefuroxime resistant strans were at increased risk of having multidrug resistant Salmonella BSI (OR, 8.97; 95% CI, 3.62-24.15; P-value, 0.001). Conclusions: Salmonellae, predominantly NTS, account for a reasonable low proportion of positive blood cultures in our tertiary care setting; but with significant multidrug resistant phenotypes and low ciprofloxacin and cefotaxime resistance.Item Urinary Tract Infections among Bladder Outlet Obstruction Patients in Accra, Ghana: Aetiology, Antibiotic Resistance, and Risk Factors(Diseases, 2018) Asafo-Adjei, K.; Mensah, J.E.; Appiah-Korang, L.; et al.The aim of this study was to investigate urinary tract infections among patients with Bladder Outlet Obstruction (BOO) at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital (KBTH) in Accra, Ghana, including the prevalence, risk factors, aetiological agents and their antibiogram. Urine specimens were collected from 188 male patients presenting with BOO and cultured for bacteria. The bacterial isolates were identified using standard microbiological methods and tested against a spectrum of antimicrobial agents using the Kirby Bauer method. Demographic information and the clinical history of study participants were also recorded. The prevalence of urinary tract infection among the BOO patients was 76.6% and the main risk factor identified was catheterization (p < 0.0001). A wide range of bacterial organisms was isolated from urine specimens and they were predominantly, Enterobacteriaceae; Escherichia coli was the most frequent cause of bacteriuria (33.3%), followed by Klebsiella (17.3%). Bacterial isolates were most resistant to Augmentin (97.8%) followed by tetracycline (85.8%), nalidixic acid (82.8%) and ciprofloxacin (75%) while 93.6% were multi-drug resistant. The highest susceptibility was observed with amikacin, which had a resistance prevalence of 4.4% resistance. These findings have important implications in the treatment of urinary tract infections among the BOO patients in Ghana.Item Whole Genome Sequencing and Antimicrobial Resistance of Staphylococcus aureus from Surgical Site Infections in Ghana(MDPI, 2021) Egyir, B.; Bentum, J.; Attram, N.; Fox, A.; Obeng-Nkrumah, N.; Appiah-Korang, L.; Behene, E.; Kumordjie, S.; Yeboah, C.; Agbodzi, B.; Bentil, R.E.; Tagoe, R.; Tabi, B.K.A.; Owusu, F.; Dayie, N.T.K.D.; Donkor, E.S.; Nsaful, J.; Asah-Opoku, K.; Nyarko, E.; Asumanu, E.; Larsen, A.R.; Wolfe, D.M.; Letizia, A.G.Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) is a common cause of surgical site infections (SSIs) globally. Data on the occurrence of methicillin-susceptible S. aureus (MSSA) as well as methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) among patients with surgical site infections (SSIs) in sub-Saharan African are scarce. We characterized S. aureus from SSIs in Ghana using molecular methods and antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST). Wound swabs or aspirate samples were collected from subjects with SSIs. S. aureus was identified by matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization–time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF-MS); AST was performed by Kirby-Bauer disk diffusion, and results were interpreted according to the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) guideline. Detection of spa, mecA, and pvl genes was performed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Whole-genome sequencing (WGS) was done using the Illumina MiSeq platform. Samples were collected from 112 subjects, with 13 S. aureus isolates recovered. Of these, 92% were sensitive to co-trimoxazole, 77% to clindamycin, and 54% to erythromycin. Multi-drug resistance was detected in 5 (38%) isolates. The four mecA gene-positive MRSA isolates detected belonged to ST152 (n = 3) and ST5 (n = 1). In total, 62% of the isolates were positive for the Panton-Valentine leukocidin (pvl) toxin gene. This study reports, for the first time, a pvl-positive ST152-t355 MRSA clone from SSIs in Ghana. The occurrence of multi-drug-resistant S. aureus epidemic clones suggests that continuous surveillance is required to monitor the spread and resistance trends of S. aureus in hospital settings in the country.