Klebsiella pneumoniae Nosocomial Infection in an African Pediatrics Health Center: Case of Campus-Teaching Hospital in Togo

Abstract

Background: The target of our study was to analyze clinical, paraclinical and environmental aspects of a nosocomial infection that occurred at the pediatrics division at Campus Teaching Hospital. Methods: This was a prospective study initiated after observation of some suspicious cases of nosocomial infection amongst patients. Forty-one children from 29 days to 15 years of age admitted to the Pediatrics Division at Campus Teaching Hospital for a period of 3 months (from April 1 to June 31, 2016) were taken into account in this study. In our study, we included all sick children who showed a reappearance of severe infectious syndrome after 3 days of admission and whose blood cultures were positive. During this period of study, 20 nurses and six medical doctors were questioned as regards to hands clean during the discharge of their work. Studied parameters were: age, sex, initial treatment, bacteria found, sensibility of bacteria, swab results on medical materials in use and hands care. Results: During the study, 41 cases of blood cultures were identified, out of which 30 (73.17%) tested positive to Klebsiella pneumoniae. The most concerned range of age was between 1 and 5 (56.09%). The initial diagnoses were dominated by 27 malaria (65.85%) and gastroenteritis fever (17.08%). All isolated cases of Klebsiella pneumoniae in our study were multi-resistant but sensitive to colistin. Two children out of 30 infected by Klebsiella pneumoniae died. During the period of study, health staff on duty did not regularly practise proper hands hygiene. Conclusions: The case of nosocomial infection is very common in African health centers and it should draw the attention of health officials.