Changing Antimicrobial Resistance Trends in Kathmandu, Nepal: A 23-Year Retrospective Analysis of Bacteraemia.

A comprehensive longitudinal understanding of the changing epidemiology of the agents causing bacteraemia and their AMR profiles in key locations is crucial for assessing the progression and magnitude of the global AMR crisis. We performed a retrospective analysis of routine microbiological data from April 1992 to December 2014, studying the time trends of non-Salmonella associated bacteraemia at a single Kathmandu healthcare facility. The distribution of aetiological agents, their antimicrobial susceptibility profiles, and the hospital ward of isolation were assessed. Two hundred twenty-four thousand seven hundred forty-one blood cultures were performed over the study period, of which, 30,353 (13.5%) exhibited growth for non-contaminant bacteria. We observed a significant increasing trend in the proportion of MDR non-Salmonella Enterobacteriaceae (p < 0.001), other Gram-negative organisms (p = 0.006), and Gram-positive organisms (p = 0.006) over time. Additionally, there was an annual increasing trend in the proportion of MDR organisms in bacteria-positive blood cultures originating from patients attending the emergency ward (p = 0.006) and the outpatient department (p = 0.006). This unique dataset demonstrates that community acquired non-Salmonella bacteraemia has become an increasingly important cause of hospital admission in Kathmandu. An increasing burden of bacteraemia associated with MDR organisms in the community underscores the need for preventing the circulation of MDR bacteria within the local population.

A 23-year retrospective investigation of Salmonella Typhi and Salmonella Paratyphi isolated in a tertiary Kathmandu hospital.

BACKGROUND: Salmonella serovars Typhi (S. Typhi) and Paratyphi A (S. Paratyphi A), the causative agents of enteric fever, have been routinely isolated organisms from the blood of febrile patients in the Kathmandu Valley since the early 1990s. Susceptibility against commonly used antimicrobials for treating enteric fever has gradually changed throughout South Asia since this time, posing serious treatment challenges. Here, we aimed to longitudinally describe trends in the isolation of Salmonella enterica and assess changes in their antimicrobial susceptibility in Kathmandu over a 23-year period. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective analysis of standardised microbiological data from April 1992 to December 2014 at a single healthcare facility in Kathmandu, examining time trends of Salmonella-associated bacteraemia and the corresponding antimicrobial susceptibility profiles of the isolated organisms. RESULTS: Over 23 years there were 30,353 positive blood cultures. Salmonella enterica accounted for 65.4% (19,857/30,353) of all the bacteria positive blood cultures. S. Typhi and S. Paratyphi A were the dominant serovars, constituting 68.5% (13,592/19,857) and 30.5% (6,057/19,857) of all isolated Salmonellae. We observed (i) a peak in the number of Salmonella-positive cultures in 2002, a year of heavy rainfall and flooding in the Kathmandu Valley, followed by a decline toward pre-flood baseline by 2014, (ii) an increase in the proportion of S. Paratyphi in all Salmonella-positive cultures between 1992 and 2014, (iii) a decrease in the prevalence of MDR for both S. Typhi and S. Paratyphi, and (iv) a recent increase in fluoroquinolone non-susceptibility in both S. Typhi and S. Paratyphi isolates. CONCLUSIONS: Our work describes significant changes in the epidemiology of Salmonella enterica in the Kathmandu Valley during the last quarter of a century. We highlight the need to examine current treatment protocols for enteric fever and suggest a change from fluoroquinolone monotherapy to combination therapies of macrolides or cephalosporins along with older first-line antimicrobials that have regained their efficacy.

Tubo-ovarian abscess infected by Salmonella typhi.

We report a case of a tubo-ovarian abscess infected with Salmonella enterica serotype typhi A 19-year-old Nepalese woman presented to a hospital in Kathmandu with lower abdominal pain, constipation, fever and a non-healing, suppurative surgical wound from an emergency caesarian section performed 2 months previously at 37 weeks of pregnancy. She also had an exploratory laparotomy for an appendix perforation with peritonitis at 25 weeks of gestation. Her wound infection did not respond to cloxacillin and she had an exploratory laparotomy, and a tubo-ovarian abscess was found from which S. typhi was isolated. She had a bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy and responded to 14 days of chloramphenicol. A tubo-ovarian abscess is a rare complication of enteric fever.

Acute pyelonephritis in pregnancy: a retrospective study.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the incidence, risk factors, microbial pathogens, and pregnancy outcomes of pregnant women with acute antepartum pyelonephritis. METHODS: Among all pregnant women admitted to Patan Hospital, Nepal from 14 April 2004 to 13 April 2005, pregnant women with acute pyelonephritis were retrospectively studied. Furthermore, the pregnancy outcomes of these women were compared with those of the general obstetric population received at our hospital during the same time period. RESULTS: Of 7034 pregnant women delivered at our hospital, 94 cases of acute antepartum pyelonephritis were diagnosed during the study period (incidence: 1.3%). Maternal mean age for the infection was 22 +/- 3.41 years. Acute pyelonephritis was most frequently occurred in nulliparous women (75%), and in the second trimester (60%). Of 94 cases, 62 (65.95%) showed positive urine culture, with the predominating organism Escherichia coli in 81% (50 of 62) of cases. E. coli was found most sensitive to nitrofurantoin (82.1% of cases), followed by ceftriaxone (81.55% of cases), gentamicin (77.01% of cases), ofloxacin (60.57% of cases), and ciprofloxacin (59% of cases). The incidences of low-birthweight babies (14%) and preterm babies (7.81%) in the cases with acute antepartum pyelonephritis were not significantly different compared to that of all births in our hospital during the same period (13% and 8%, respectively; P > 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Acute pyelonephritis requiring admission to hospital most frequently occurs in nulliparous women, and in the second trimester. The predominating organism responsible for acute pyelonephritis is E. coli. Ceftriaxone, because of its safety and negligible side-effect, should be the drug of choice for acute antepartum pyelonephritis.