Infection and Drug Resistance (Dec 2019)
Incidence, Bacterial Profiles, And Antimicrobial Resistance Of Culture-Proven Neonatal Sepsis In South China
Abstract
Kankan Gao,1,* Jie Fu,1,2,* Xiaoshan Guan,1 Sufei Zhu,1 Lanlan Zeng,1 Xiaoming Xu,1 Chien-Yi Chang,3 Haiying Liu1 1Clinical Laboratory, Guangzhou Women and Children’s Medical Center, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510623, People’s Republic of China; 2Guangzhou Institute of Pediatrics, Guangzhou Women and Children’s Medical Center, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510623, People’s Republic of China; 3School of Chemistry and Biosciences, University of Bradford, Bradford BD7 1DP, UK*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Haiying LiuClinical Laboratory, Guangzhou Women and Children’s Medical Center, Guangzhou Medical University, No. 9 Jinsui Road, Guangzhou, Guangdong Province 510623, People’s Republic of ChinaTel +86 208 133 0639Email [email protected]: Neonatal sepsis (NS) is one of the leading causes of infant morbidity and mortality, but little is known about pathogen incidence and distribution in China.Methods: In this retrospective study (January 2012 to December 2016), culture-proven cases aged less than 28 days with diagnosed NS in the Guangzhou Women and Children’s Medical Center, South China, were analyzed for pathogen incidence and antimicrobial resistance.Results: A total of 620 isolates were identified from 597 NS cases. Gram-negative bacteria (n=371, 59.8%) dominated over Gram-positive bacteria (n=218, 35.2%) and fungi (n=30, 4.8%). Klebsiella pneumoniae (21.9%), Escherichia coli (21.9%), group B Streptococcus (GBS, 13.2%), and Staphylococcus aureus (6.8%) were the four most predominant pathogens. In early-onset sepsis (EOS), GBS (30.0%) and E. coli (20.0%) were dominant, whereas in late-onset sepsis (LOS), K. pneumoniae (25.6%) and E. coli (22.4%) were dominant. E. coli (25.2%) and GBS (17.7%) were the most frequently isolated from term patients, whereas K. pneumoniae was the most frequently isolated from preterm patients (34.9%). Of the infected infants, 9.5% died from sepsis, most commonly by E. coli infection (16.2%). Among 91,215 live births (LBs) delivered in the study hospital (2012–2016), 252 infants developed sepsis infection (2.76 per 1000 LBs, 95% CI 2.4–3.1), including EOS (0.78 per 1000 LBs) and LOS (2.13 per 1000 LBs). All GBS isolates were susceptible to β-lactam antibiotics, and S. aureus, including methicillin-resistant isolates, were susceptible to vancomycin. An extended-spectrum β-lactamase producer was identified in 37.3% of E. coli and 50.4% of K. pneumoniae.Conclusion: K. pneumoniae was the most frequent pathogen in culture-proven NS in South China, primarily associated with LOS in preterm, whereas GBS was the dominant pathogen in EOS. E. coli was common in both episodes with the highest mortality.Keywords: neonatal sepsis, incidence, antimicrobial resistance, Escherichia coli, group B Streptococcus, Klebsiella pneumoniae
