ABSTRACT
PURPOSE: Streptococcus pneumoniae is the major cause of pneumoniae infection among under-five children that leads to high morbidity and mortality. Thus, the aim of this study was to determine the magnitude of Streptococcus pneumoniae in under-five children of an acute respiratory infection, assess its antimicrobial susceptibility patterns, and define the associated factors. METHODS: An institutional-based cross-sectional study was conducted on a total of 384 under-five children of acute respiratory infection attending outpatient department of Hiwot Fana Specialized University Hospital, Harar, Ethiopia, from March 1 to 30, 2020. Socio-demographic and clinical data were collected from the study participants using a structured questionnaire. Sputum samples were collected and processed to identify Streptococcus pneumoniae pathogen using the culture and biochemical tests as per the standard procedures. The Kirby-Bauer disk diffusion method was used for antimicrobial susceptibility testing. Data were entered into Epi-data version 3.1 and analyzed by using Statistical Product and Service Solutions version 22. RESULTS: The proportion of Streptococcus pneumoniae in under-five children with acute respiratory infection was 11.2%. About 50% of isolated Streptococcus pneumoniae was resistant to tetracycline and cotrimoxazole, whereas more than 90% of it was susceptible to Ceftriaxone and amoxicillin-clavulanate. Children who lived in rural areas were 3.6 times more likely to have S. pneumoniae compared to children who lived in urban areas (AOR: 3.6, 95% CI: 1.2-11) and children with familysmokers in a house were 3 times at risk to be infected with S. pneumoniae (AOR: 3, 95% CI: 1.8-8.0). CONCLUSION: High antimicrobial resistance of S. pneumoniae against tetracycline and cotrimoxazole was observed and children who lived in rural areas and live with a family of cigarette smoker are factors associated with Streptococcus pneumoniae. Therefore, providing health educations to the family of children rural residents and isolating smokers from the house where children lived are recommended actions to reduce bacteria caused by Streptococcus pneumoniae.
ABSTRACT
PURPOSE: Tuberculosis (TB) is one of the top 10 leading killer diseases in developing countries, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa, including Ethiopia. Thus, this study aimed to assess the trend analysis and seasonality of TB at Hiwot Fana Specialized University Hospital, Eastern Ethiopia. METHODS AND PATIENTS: A hospital-based retrospective study was conducted on 8,001 patients by reviewing all available patients' data from January 1, 2015 to April 30, 2019, at the Hiwot Fana Specialized University Hospital, Eastern Ethiopia. Socio-demographic characteristics and results of the GeneXpert assay were taken from the registration book. The data were entered into EpiData 3.1 and analyzed by using the statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20. RESULTS: From a total of 8,001 samples tested using Genexpert, the overall prevalence of Mycobacterium tuberculosis and rifampicin resistance was found to be 1,254 (15.7%) and 53 (4.1%), respectively. A decreasing trend of TB prevalence was observed, and decreased from 19.3% in 2015, 18.6% in 2016, to 18.4% in 2017, 13.5% in 2018 and down to 13.0% in 2019 (P-value<0.001). The maximum number of TB cases were reported during autumn (454, 17.1%) and summer (310, 17.2%) compared to other seasons of all the study period. Being between the ages of 15-29 years (adjusted odds ratio (AOR)=1.7, 95% confidence interval (CI)=1.41-1.98), of male gender (AOR=0.84, 95% CI=0.75-0.96), experiencing a relapse of TB (AOR=0.51, 95% CI=0.35-0.78), and being HIV positive (AOR=0.51, 95% CI=0.3-0.86) were found to be factors associated with high proportion of tuberculosis. CONCLUSION: Prevalence of TB has decreased year to year between January 2015 and April 2019. However, a high percentage of patients are still testing positive for TB with different seasonal variations. Thus, understanding and managing TB in seasonal variation, controlling relapse of TB, and screening of all HIV positive patients are recommended steps to reduce the transmission of tuberculosis in Ethiopia.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Mobile phones of health care professionals could harbor microbes which cause nosocomial infections to the patient, family members, and the community at large. Thus, the aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of bacterial contamination of the mobile phones of health professionals, identify bacterial isolates, assess their antimicrobial susceptibility patterns, and define the associated factors. METHOD: A cross-sectional study was conducted from February to March 2018 on 226 health professionals' mobile phones which were selected by a simple random sampling technique. Data were collected using a self-administered questionnaire. A swab sample from each of health professional's mobile phone device was collected and transported to the microbiology laboratory for bacterial culture and antimicrobial susceptibility tests. Data were entered into EpiData version 3.1 and analyzed by using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) program version 20. RESULT: The overall prevalence of mobile phone contamination with one or more bacteria was 94.2%. Coagulase-negative staphylococci (CoNS; 58.8%), Staphylococcus aureus (14.4%), and Klebsiella species (6.9%) were the most predominant bacterial isolates. The overall prevalence of multidrug-resistant bacteria was 69.9%. About half of Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria were resistant to ampicillin and trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole. Male sex (adjusted odds ratio (AOR) 4.1, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.1, 15.8) and the absence of regular phone cleaning/disinfecting were found to be the most significant factors (AOR 4.1, 95% CI 1.2, 13.5) associated with health care professionals' mobile phone bacterial contamination. CONCLUSION: There is a high contamination rate of mobile phones with nosocomial pathogens. Most of the isolates were resistant to ampicillin and trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole and also multidrug-resistant. A mobile phone belonging to male health professionals and to those not disinfecting mobile phones was significantly contaminated with bacteria. Therefore, strategies for preventing nosocomial transmission of drug-resistant pathogens through mobile phones, like hand washing and cleaning mobile phones, are recommended.
