Sepsis among Neonates in a Ghanaian Tertiary Military Hospital: Culture Results and Turnaround Times

Francis Kwame Morgan Tetteh (), Raymond Fatchu, Kingsley Ackah, Trudy Janice Philips, Hemant Deepak Shewade, Ama Fenny, Collins Timire, Jeffrey Karl Edwards and Emmanuel Abbeyquaye Parbie
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Francis Kwame Morgan Tetteh: Pathology Division, 37 Military Hospital, Neghelli Barracks, Accra GA 01, Ghana
Raymond Fatchu: Pathology Division, 37 Military Hospital, Neghelli Barracks, Accra GA 01, Ghana
Kingsley Ackah: Pathology Division, 37 Military Hospital, Neghelli Barracks, Accra GA 01, Ghana
Trudy Janice Philips: Clinical Pathology Department, Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research, P.O. Box LG 581, Accra GA 01, Ghana
Hemant Deepak Shewade: Division of Health System Research, ICMR-National Institute of Epidemiology (ICMR-NIE), Chennai 600077, India
Collins Timire: International Union against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (The Union), 75006 Paris, France
Jeffrey Karl Edwards: Department of Global Health, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA
Emmanuel Abbeyquaye Parbie: Paedriatric Division, 37 Military Hospital, Neghelli Barracks, Accra GA 01, Ghana

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 18, 1-12

Abstract: In this study, we described the bacterial profile, antibiotic resistance pattern, and laboratory result turnaround time (TAT) in neonates with suspected sepsis from a tertiary-level, military hospital in Accra, Ghana (2017–2020). This was a cross-sectional study using secondary data from electronic medical records. Of 471 neonates clinically diagnosed with suspected sepsis in whom blood samples were collected, the median TAT from culture request to report was three days for neonates who were culture-positive and five days for neonates who were culture-negative. There were 241 (51%) neonates discharged before the receipt of culture reports, and of them, 37 (15%) were culture-positive. Of 471 neonates, twenty-nine percent ( n = 139) were bacteriologically confirmed, of whom 61% ( n = 85) had late-onset sepsis. Gram-positive bacterial infection (89%, n = 124) was the most common cause of culture-positive neonatal sepsis. The most frequent Gram-positive pathogen was coagulase-negative Staphylococcus (55%, n = 68) followed by Staphylococcus aureus (36%, n = 45), of which one in two were multidrug resistant. The reasons for large numbers being discharged before the receipt of culture reports need to be further explored. There is a need for improved infection prevention and control, along with ongoing local antimicrobial resistance surveillance and antibiotic stewardship to guide future empirical treatment.

Keywords: neonatal sepsis; bacteria; neonatal intensive care unit; turnaround time; antibiotic resistance; sort it; operational research (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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