Nasopharyngeal Carriage Rate and Antimicrobial Susceptibility Pattern of Potential Pathogenic Bacteria among Paediatrics Outpatients at Gondar University Teaching Hospital, Ethiopia

Background: Neisseria meningitidis and Staphylococcus aureus usually carried without symptoms in nasopharynx, but carriage of these pathogens can lead to serious infectious diseases in children. Meningitis beyond the neonatal period caused by N. meningitidis remains the main reason for morbidity and mortality among children in developing countries. The aim of the study was to assess nasopharyngeal carriage and antimicrobial susceptibility pattern of N. meningitidis and S. aureus among pediatrics outpatients at Gondar, Ethiopia. Method: A cross-sectional study was conducted on children aged ≤ 10 years from February to May, 2012. Data on potential risk factors were gathered by interview-based questionnaire. Nasopharyngeal specimens were collected with a sterile plastic cotton tip swab. Bacteria were characterised by colony appearance, Gram staining and biochemical tests. Antimicrobial susceptibility test was performed using disc diffusion method. A logistic regression analysis was used to examine possible risk factors. All tests with P-value less than 0.05 were considered statistically significant.   Result: Of 234 samples screened, 37 (15.8%) had positive cultures, with 24 (10.3%) being S. aureus and 14 (6.0%) N. meningitidis. The higher carriage rate of S. aureus 9 (14.3%) and N. meningitidis 6 (9.6%) were found among 8-10 years old children. S. aureus were resistant to 24 (100%) ampicillin, 20 (83.3%) amoxicillin, 8 (33.3%) tetracycline, 6 (25%) erythromycin and 2 (8.2%) chloramphenicol. However, N. meningitidis isolates were resistant only to cotrimoxazole 14 (100%), ciprofloxacin 7 (50%) and ceftriaxone 3 (21.4%).   Conclusion: N. meningitidis nasopharyngeal carriage was considerably higher among older children. All isolates of S. aureus showed higher resistance rate for ampicillin and amoxicillin.

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