High Rate of Antibiotic Resistance in a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit of a University Hospital

Aims: Management of infections in new-born remain a major problem globally due to their delicate nature. Bacteremia in new born has resulted in high mortality. Determining the prevalence and antibiotic susceptibility pattern of Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae and Staphylocccus aureus which dominates in sepsis is important.

Study Design: During a 4 month period in 2015, 98 blood samples were collected from new-born admitted to a university hospital in Delta State, Nigeria.

Methodology: Isolation of organisms were based on growth patterns, morphological appearance and biochemical analysis. Antimicrobial susceptibility were determined following Kirby-Bauer disc diffusion methods, using 11 different antibiotics which include Gentamicin (10 µg), Ofloxacin, (5 µg) Ciprofloxacin, (5 µg) Amoxicillin-clavulanic acid (30 µg), Ceftazidime (30 µg), Cefuroxime, (30 µg) Trimethoprim-sulphamethoxazole (25 µg), Nitrofurantoin (300 µg), Cefixime (5µg), Cloxacillin(10µg) and Erythromycin (10 µg).

Results: A total of 30 (30.61%) Escherichia coli, 20 (20.41%) Klebsiella pneumoniaè and 18 (18.37%) Staphylococcus aureus were isolated. Susceptibility results indicate that all isolates were highly resistant to Gentamicin and to the two lower generation cephalosporins tested; Ceftazidime and Cefuroxime. In addition, all isolates were multidrug resistant.

Conclusion: Our data has revealed that a serious problem of antimicrobial resistance exist among bloodstream isolates of new-born in our hospital.