Point Prevalence Survey of Antimicrobial Prescription and Consumption in a Nigerian Tertiary Hospital: A Gateway to the Antimicrobial Stewardship Program.

BACKGROUND: Antimicrobial stewardship is an important action plan for curbing the rising trend of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Surveillance of antimicrobial use and consumption is needed as baseline data and for monitoring the impact of antimicrobial stewardship interventions. The survey was done to understand the burden of AMR, in view of establishing an antimicrobial stewardship program in our hospital. METHODS: A point prevalence survey (PPS) of antimicrobial use and consumption was conducted on all inpatients admitted before 8.00 am on the days of the survey using a standardized questionnaire. The collected data were entered online into the Global PPS web-based application (www.global-pps.com), for analysis. RESULT: Of the 178 patients admitted during the survey period, 50.6% were on one or more antimicrobial agents. All the patients in adult intensive care units were on antibiotics (100%), followed by neonatal intensive care units (83.3%), with the least being adult medical wards (39.4%). Beta-lactam antibiotics were the most frequently prescribed antimicrobial for various infections, especially skin and soft tissue infections, 41.3%, which were the most common diagnoses treated with antibiotics. The infection was mostly community-acquired (81.6%), of which 94.9% were treated empirically. There was no written guideline in existence. CONCLUSION: The present study revealed a poor prescribing habit because of a high rate of empirical treatment. The need for antimicrobial stewardship cannot be overemphasized as it will help streamline and improve the prescribing pattern.

Etiologic dilemma and challenges of management of nodular vasculitis in tertiary health-care facility: A case report.

Nodular vasculitis is a rare inflammatory disease of the skin and subcutaneous fat tissue, characterized by crops of small, tender, erythematous nodules on the legs, mostly on the calves and shins. We present a 17-year-old adolescent female who presented with a six-month history of cough; recurrent fever and bilateral lower limb multiple ulcerated nodules of 1-month duration. Clinical examination revealed generalized lymphadenopathy with bilateral pitting leg edema which had multiple nodules and discoid ulcers extending from the groin to the ankles and discharging purulent fluid. Tests for human immunodeficiency virus and tuberculosis were negative. Histology of nodule biopsy revealed extensive caseous and coagulative fat necrosis, granulomatous inflammation with epitheloid macrophages and multinucleated giant cells surrounding the necrosis, and lymphoid infiltration of vessel walls with fibrous thickening of the intima, typical of Whitfield-type erythema induratum. There was initial but very transient response to antibiotic treatment, with further deterioration and eventual death from overwhelming sepsis.