High ESBL-E colonization rate among children in Gabon: a follow-up study

J Med Microbiol. 2021 Aug;70(8). doi: 10.1099/jmm.0.001405.ABSTRACTA previous study conducted in Gabon, Central Africa, in 2010/11 found a high colonization rate with extended-spectrum β-lactamase-producing enterobacterales (ESBL-E) among children of ~34 %. Eight years later, we aimed to reassess the ESBL-E rate and previously identified risk factors for colonization in children from Gabon. We conducted a cross-sectional cohort study in 2018 on 92 outpatients under 5 years of age with diarrhoea in Lambaréné, Gabon, in whom a rectal swab was obtained at the initial medical encounter (baseline). Fifty-eight of these provided a further rectal swab 1 week afterwards. ESBL-E colonization was assessed [following the European Committee on Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing (EUCAST)], and in confirmed ESBL-E isolates the susceptibility to meropenem and the prevalence of the most abundant ESBL genes, bla CTX-M, bla SHV, and bla TEM, were investigated. At baseline, the ESBL-E colonization rate was 57 % (52/92; 95 % CI: 46-67). Hospitalization during the previous year, chicken consumption in the past week and young age were identified as independent risk factors for ESBL-E colonization at baseline. On day 7, the ESBL-E carriage rate was 72 % (42/58; 95 % CI: 59-83). All ESBL-E isolates (n=293) were susceptible to meropenem and bla CTX-M was the most frequently detected β-lactamase gene. The ESBL-E colonization rate among children from Gabon is alarmingly high, with indications of ...
Source: Journal of Medical Microbiology - Category: Microbiology Authors: Source Type: research