Extended Spectrum β-Lactamase (ESBL) in Klebsiella Pneumoniae Isolates from Septicaemic Children in Ibadan, Nigeria

Abstract

Blood culture was performed on 204 children (aged 1 day – 12 years) who presented at the University College Hospital (UCH) Ibadan, Nigeria, with fever. Eighty-four (41.3%) out of 204 blood cultures were positive. Staphylococcus aureus was the commonest bacterial agent isolated and accounted for (50%) of all the isolates. Klebsiella spp and Salmonella spp each accounted for 21.4% and 10.7% respectively. Other bacterial agents isolated included Escherichia coli, Enterobacter spp. Citrobacter spp. Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Streptococcus Pneumoniae and Serratia spp. Two of the children died in spite of early use of appropriate antibiotics as determined by antibiotic susceptibility testing. Phenotypic and molecualr investigation showed extended-spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL) producing K. pneumoniae to be implicated in the death of the children. Several other K. pneumoniae isolates recovered from blood samples expressed ESBLs and the isolates were shown by pulsed field gel electrophoresis of chromosomal DNA to be genetically unrelated.


KEY WORDS: Klebsiella pneumoniae, septicaemic, ESBL.


Nigerian Journal of Health and Biomedical Sciences Vol.3(2) 2004: 79-84