Incidence of Septicemia in Children Attending University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital, Port Harcourt, Nigeria

Introduction: Septicemia is an invasive infection where chemical substances released into the bloodstream causes morbidity and mortality in neonates. The developing countries carries major burden of the problem and Nigeria is not exceptional.

Objective: The study was carried out to determine age/sex-related prevalence, causative agents and antimicrobial sensitivity pattern of neonatal septicemia in children at University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital, Nigeria.

Methods: This retrospective study was carried out in the pediatric department for a period of twelve months. Blood culture test using thioglycollate broth and tryptone soya broth for isolation of microorganisms was adopted. Antimicrobial sensitivity pattern was done with disc diffusion method. The data was analyzed using descriptive statistics and Chi square for significance.

Results: A total of 598 children were examined, of which 394(67.9%) children showed negative blood cultures, while 204(34.1%) children had positive bacterial cultures and 2 children (0.3%) were positive for Candida albicans. Overall, Klebsiella spp. was the most common pathogen, accounting for (37.8%) of the total isolates, which is followed by Staphylococcus aureus (28.4%), Escherichia coli (11.8%), unclassified Coliforms (8.3%), Pseudomonas spp. (4.9%), Proteus spp. (3.4%), Enterococcus spp. (2.9%) and coagulase-negative Staphylococcus (CONS) (2.5%) respectively. Early onset neonatal sepsis (EONNS) had Klebsiella spp as the most prevalent causative agent while Staphylococcus aureus was prevalent among the late onset neonatal sepsis (LONNS). Klebsiella spp. was susceptible to spafloxacin (87.0%) followed by ofloxacin (82.0%), amoxycillin-clavulanic acid (79.0%) and ceftazidime (65.0%) among the Gram negative organisms. In the category of Gram positive organisms, Staphylococcus aureus was highly sensitive to ofloxacin (81.0%) followed by spafloxacin (79.0%) and amoxicillin-clavulanic acid (71.0%).

Conclusion: The study showed Klebsiella spp. and Staphylococcus aureus were the prevalent bacterial organisms of septicemia in children in University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital. Early diagnosis with use of appropriate antimicrobial treatment will effect intervention for management of the children.