Bacterial pathogens associated with external ocular infections alongside eminent proportion of multidrug resistant isolates at the University of Gondar Hospital, northwest Ethiopia

Abstract

BackgroundExternal ocular infection is a public health problem in Ethiopia. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence and antimicrobial susceptibility pattern of external ocular bacterial infections.MethodsA cross sectional study was conducted at the University of Gondar Hospital among patients seeking health services at the Department of Ophthalmology from January to April, 2016. All patients with suspected external ocular infections were examined under slit lamp microscope. External ocular samples were collected using aseptic techniques. All samples were investigated by culture and bacteria were identified using standard methods. Drug susceptibility test was done using the Kirby-Bauer Disk diffusion method according to the guidelines of Clinical and Laboratory Standard Institute (CLSI).ResultA total of 312 samples were collected and 58.3% were culture positive. The proportion of Gram positive bacterial pathogens was (88%), and Staphylococcus aureus (50.3%) was the predominantly isolated pathogen, followed by Coagulase negative staphylococci (CoNS) (33.5%) and Klebsiella species (4.7%). Conjunctivitis was the dominant clinical feature, but a high positive result for bacterial pathogens was observed among patients with dacryocystitis cases. The Gram positive bacterial isolates were susceptible to ciprofloxacin, chloramphinicol, amoxicillin-clavulanate and ceftriaxone. However, 65% of these Gram positive bacterial pathogens showed resistance to penicillin, ampicillin and amoxicillin. The prevalence of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infection was 24% and multidrug resistance (MDR) was observed in 87% of the isolated bacteria.ConclusionConjunctivitis was the dominant ophthalmic disease followed by blepharitis. The dominant bacteria species was S. aureus and MRSA infection is increasingly prevalent. The overall MDR bacterial pathogen proportion was very high. The high prevalence of MRSA and MDR bacterial pathogens dictate the need for effective prevention as important as for therapies.

Bacterial etiology of ocular and periocular infections, antimicrobial susceptibility profile and associated factors among patients attending eye unit of Shashemene comprehensive specialized hospital, Shashemene, Ethiopia

“…In the current study, the predominant bacterial isolates were S. aureus (37%) followed by CoNS (29%). The finding of this study is comparable with previous studies conducted in Ethiopia [4,15,19,20], Nigeria [8] and India [17].…”

“…The prevalence of culture-positive ocular and periocular infections caused by bacteria found in this study, 59.6%, is in line with studies conducted in various parts of Ethiopia [9,15,16]. Our finding is low compared to the report from India (88%) [17], Nigeria (74.9%) [18] and Southern Ethiopia (74.7%) [19].…”

“…A similar finding was reported from other part of Ethiopia [22]. However, low susceptibility (71.9%) to gentamicin [15] and high susceptibility to penicillin was reported from other parts of Ethiopia [16].…”

“…The proportion of Gram-negative bacteria isolated, (31.8%) in this study is high compared to report from Ethiopia [15,16,22]. Among Gram-negative bacteria isolated in the present study, E. coli (8.6%) was the most prevalent followed by K. pneumoniae (4.6%) and Moraxella species 4%).…”

Detection of New Delhi metallo-beta-lactamase enzyme gene bla NDM-1 associated with the Int-1 gene in Gram-negative bacteria collected from the effluent treatment plant of a tuberculosis care hospital in Delhi, India

“…Many times carbapenemase enzymeproducing Gram-negative bacteria are of superbug nature, wherein they are resistant to not only carbapenems but also to monobactums [1] and cephalosporins [2]. Many of the common nosocomial infectious agents, such as Klebsiella pneumoniae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Acinetobacter baumannii, are now presenting as superbugs and lead to complicated, difficult-to-treat infections of the urinary tract, blood, brain, lungs and wounds [3][4][5][6][7].…”