Occurrence of Pantoea agglomerans bloodstream infection in neonatal intensive care unit at tertiary hospital in Tanzania: antibiotic susceptibility profile and clinical outcome

• Published in: Bulletin of the National Research Centre Vol. 48; no. 1; pp. 52 - 8
• Main Authors: Masoud, Salim S., Majigo, Mtebe, Gangji, Raidah R., Nyawale, Helmut, Ntukula, Albert, Msafiri, Frank, Kamori, Doreen, Manyahi, Joel, Kasubi, Mabula
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 01-12-2024; Springer Nature B.V; SpringerOpen
• Subjects: Agriculture; Antibiotic sensitivity; Antibiotics; Bloodstream infection; Chloramphenicol; Chloromycetin; Decontamination; Engineering; Gram-negative bacteria; Humanities and Social Sciences; Infections; Intensive care; Medical records; Medicine and Human Genetics; Meropenem; Mortality; multidisciplinary; Neonates; NICU; Outbreak; Pantoea agglomerans; Pathogens; Piperacillin-tazobactam; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Sensitivity; Sepsis; Tanzania; Tanzania; NICU; Outbreak; Bloodstream infection; Antibiotic sensitivity; Tanzania
• ISSN: 2522-8307; 2522-8307
• DOI: 10.1186/s42269-024-01210-5

Background
Pantoea agglomerans (P. agglomerans)
is an environmental gram-negative bacterium that rarely infects humans.
P. agglomerans
infections have never been reported in Tanzania. We investigated the occurrence of
P. agglomerans
bloodstream infections among neonates in the Intensive Care Unit (NICU) and their subsequent clinical outcome that occurred in 2019.
Methodology
Blood samples were collected from neonates with sepsis. A total of 19
P. agglomerans
were isolated from 17 infected neonates; two of the neonates had
P. agglomerans
isolated twice. A total of 14 patient files were retrieved from medical records.
Results
The mean age of the infected neonates were 3.75 ± 7.95 days. Isolated
P. agglomerans
showed high sensitivity to the antibiotics particularly chloramphenicol (94.7%), piperacillin-tazobactam (94.7%) and meropenem (94.7%). The mortality rate was 71.4% with 35.7% of infected neonates dying before Antibiotic Susceptibility Test results for appropriate management. The Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) team shut the NICU for thorough decontamination which helped to stop the
P. agglomerans
occurrence.
Conclusions
P. agglomerans
occurrence at the NICU was an uncommon aetiology pathogen for neonatal sepsis associated with high rates of mortality despite high sensitivity to multiple antibiotics. This calls for the strengthening of infection control measures and introduction of surveillance for environmental pathogens capable of causing human infections.