Bacterial contamination of intensive care units is of clinical concern because it is one of the major risk factors of ICU -acquired infections and centre point of multidrug resistant (MDR) pathogens. Periodic surveillance is an early warning signal to non-adherence of basic standard infection control procedures and emergence of MDR pathogens. This study evaluated the bacterial contamination, bacterial pathogens isolated and their antimicrobial susceptibility pattern in the ICU units. The units sampled were adult and neonatal intensive care units, accordingly to previously described methods and analyzed by standard microbiological methods. A total of 113 samples were collected, overall, 71(62.8%) yielded positive bacterial growth, 15(21.1%) detected by open-plate and 14(19.7%) by swabbing in adult intensive care unit and 20(28.2%) and 22(31.0%) in neonatal care unit. Bacillus spp,Staphylococcus aureus and coagulase negative staphylococci spp predominated in both units 24(33.8%), 19(26.8%), 14(19.7%), Other pathogens 19%, clinically relevant pathogens isolated were Eschericia coli (1%), Klebsiella pneumonia(4%) and Streptococcus pneumonia (3%) respectively. High indoor contamination was recorded in both units, 51.7% (n=15) in AICU and 47.6% (n=20) in NICU and inanimate items/equipments. Clinically relevant pathogens were recovered from routinely used equipment and critical sites. High resistance to commonly prescribed and administered agents, cotrimoxazole, amoxicillin and ampicillin was observed. Though the findings has provided a baseline information for furthered surveillance, but the high indoor contamination within both units signify increased traffic, ventilation system problem and inadequate cleaning procedures.

An ear infection is among the common diseases in children. There is an increased rate of antimicrobial resistance to pathogens that cause ear infections worldwide. We analyzed two years of data on bacterial isolates associated with suspected cases of ear infection and their antibiotic-resistant patterns. All records on ear swabs (n= 134) sent for culture and sensitivity, at the medical microbiology laboratory of a tertiary Health Facility in Northeastern Nigeria, from 2017 to 2018 were reviewed. The patients’ socio-demographic information, bacteria isolated, antibiotics tested, and their sensitivity patterns were extracted. Kirby-Bauer method of antibiotic sensitivity testing and CLSI guidelines were adopted. Descriptive analyses of the data were conducted. Of a total of 134 patients’ records extracted 50.7% were female, median age 12 (IQR 9-15 years). Of the 134 samples cultured, 124 (92.5%) yield bacterial growth. Eight (8) different isolates obtained were Staphylococcus aureus (38.7%), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (17.7%), Proteus mirabilis (16.1%) Proteus vulgaris (9.7%), Klebsiella oxytoca (9.0%), Klebsiella pneumoniae (5.6%) Escherichia coli (2.4%) and Enterococcus spp. (0.8%), Staphylococcus aureus was the predominant isolate, while Enterococcus spp. was the least. A high resistant rate was recorded against many of the antibiotics tested. All isolate demonstrated resistance to amoxicillin and cotrimoxazole, and high sensitivity to ciprofloxacin. Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa were the most common pathogens isolated. Most isolates showed high sensitivity to ciprofloxacin. The high resistance rate recorded on most of the antibiotics tested highlight the need for appropriate prescription of antimicrobials based on local susceptibility profile in the treatments of ear infection.

Carbapenemases are microbial enzymes that confer resistance to virtually all available beta-lactam antibiotics and the most frequent carbapenemases are the Klebsiella pneumoniae Carbapenamase (KPC). Detection of carbapenemases is a significant infection control strategy as the enzymes are often associated with extensive antimicrobial resistance, therapeutic failures and mortality associated with infectious diseases. A total of 400 clinical samples were collected from different groups of patients in Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Teaching Hospital, Bauchi, Nigeria and 118 K. pneumoniae were isolated using standard microbiological techniques. The isolates were subjected to antibiotic susceptibility testing by Kirby-Bauer disc diffusion method, then screened for Carbapenamase production using modified Hodge test. The results indicated that the isolates were resistant to Ampicillin (61.9%), Ceftriaxone (50.8%) and Ceftazidime (50.8%), then Ciprofloxacin (54.2%), but predominantly sensitive to Imipenem (66.9%), Eterpenem (60.2%) and Meropenem (65.3%). It was found that 38 (32.2%) of the isolates phenotypically shows the presence of Carbapenamase, with highest frequency of (40.7%) among patients, mainly adult females with cases of Urinary Tract Infections (UTIs) and the least from wound (11.8%).This study revealed that the isolates produced other beta-lactamases than KPC or variants of Carbapenamase that cannot be detected by modified Hodge test, thus shows low resistance to carbapenems. Therefore further studies is needed to genotypically confirm the presence of KPC in these isolates.

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