Prevalence of antimicrobial resistant pathogens from blood cultures: results from a laboratory based nationwide surveillance in Ghana.

BACKGROUND: Blood stream infections (BSI) are critical medical conditions with high morbidity and mortality. There is paucity of information on BSI from surveillance studies in Ghana.

AIM: This study sought to demonstrate how useful BSI data can be gleaned from population-based surveillance, especially from resource-limited settings.

METHODS: Data from a nationwide surveillance of antimicrobial drug resistance (AMR) in Ghana were extracted and analyzed. Secondly, we revived archived Staphylococcus aureus isolates from blood cultures that were cefoxitin resistant (CRSA), and screened these for protein A ( spa ) and mec A genes.

RESULTS: Overall blood culture positivity was 11.2% (714/6351). All together, participating laboratories submitted 100 multidrug resistant blood culture isolates (Gram-negative = 49 and Gram-positive = 51). Prevalence of some Gram-negative isolates was as follows; Escherichia coli (20.4%), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (16.3%), Enterobacter spp. (14.3%), Salmonella serotype Typhi (8.2%) and Non-typhoidal Salmonella [NTS] (8.2%). Gram-positive pathogens included Staphylococcus aureus (66.7%), coagulase negative S. aureus [CoNS] (17.6%) and Streptococcus pneumoniae (11.8%). No methicillin resistance was confirmed in our CRSA isolates. Most blood stream associated infections were from inpatients (75%) and cultured bacteria were resistant to common and cheaper antimicrobials.

CONCLUSION: E. coli and S. aureus are common pathogens associated with BSI in Ghana and they are resistant to several antimicrobials. Active and continuous AMR surveillance can serve multiple purposes, including data generation for BSI.