Colonisation of antibiotic resistant bacteria in a cohort of HIV infected children in Ghana
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Date
2017
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
The Pan African Medical Journal
Abstract
Antibiotic use not only selects for resistance in pathogenic bacteria, but also in commensal flora of exposed individuals. Little is known
epidemiologically about antibiotic resistance in relation to people with HIV infection in sub-Saharan Africa. This study investigated the carriage of
antibiotic resistant bacteria among HIV infected children at a tertiary hospital in Ghana. One hundred and eighteen HIV positive children were
recruited at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital in Ghana and nasopharyngeal specimens were collected from them. The specimens were cultured for
bacteria, and the isolates were identified by standard microbiological methods. Antibiotic susceptibility tests were carried out on selected bacterial
organisms by the Kirby Bauer method. Bacteria isolated from the study subjects included Moraxella catarrhalis (39.8%), coagulase negative
staphylococci (33.1%), Streptococcus pneumoniae (30.5%), diptheroids (29.7%), viridian streptococci (27.1%), Staphylococcus aureus (22.0%),
Citrobacter spp. (4.2%) and Neisseria meningitidis (0.9%). Prevalence of antibiotic resistance of S. pneumoniae ranged from 5.6% (ceftriaxone) to
58.3% (cotrimoxazole), M. catarrhalis ranged from 2.1% (gentamicin) to 80.6% (ampicillin), and S. aureus ranged from 7.7% (cefoxitin) to 100%
(penicillin). The prevalence of multiple drug resistance was 16.7% for S. pneumoniae, 57.4% for M. catarrhalis and 84.6% for S. aureus. HIV
infected children in the study area commonly carry multi-drug resistant isolates of several pathogenic bacteria such as S. aureus and S.
pneumoniae. Infections arising in these patients that are caused by S. aureus and S. pneumoniae could be treated with ceftriaxone and cefoxitin
respectively.
Description
Research Article
Keywords
Colonisation, antibiotic resistant bacteria, HIV, Ghana