Neonatal septicemia at intensive care unit, Ayder Comprehensive Specialized Hospital, Tigray, North Ethiopia: Bacteriological profile, drug susceptibility pattern, and associated factors.

Abstract

BackgroundNeonatal septicemia is a life threatening medical emergency that requires timely detection of pathogens with urgent rational antibiotics therapy.MethodsA cross-sectional study was conducted between March 2017 to September 2018 among 317 septicemia suspected neonates at neonatal intensive care unit, Ayder Comprehensive Specialized Hospital, Mekelle, Tigray, North Ethiopia. A 3 mL of blood was collected from each participant. Identification of bacterial species was done using the standard microbiological techniques. Antibiotic sensitivity test was done using disk diffusion method. Data were entered and analyzed using computer software SPSS version 22. Bivariate and multivariate regression analysis was applied to determine the association between variables.ResultsOf the 317 (190 male and 127 female) neonates, 116 (36.6%) were found to be with culture proven septicemia. Klebsiella species were the predominant etiologic agents. Length of hospital stay (AOR (adjusted odds ratio) = 3.65 (2.17-6.13), p ConclusionNeonaltal septicemia is found to be significantly high in the present study. As most of the isolates are potentially related to hospital acquired infections, prevention and control policy should have to be more strengthening in the neonatal intensive care unit.