Antibiotic Resistance of Bacterial Strains Isolated in Kisangani, Democratic Republic of Congo: A Retrospective Study

Abstract

Investigation reports or data on the profiles of microorganisms causing infections, as well as on their respective antibiotic resistance patterns are lacking in the health care institutions present in Kisangani Region. In this purpose, the present retrospective study was carried out, in order to determine the frequency of relevant pathogens and their resistance patterns to commonly used antibiotics in the Laboratoire de Santé Publique (Public Health Laboratory) of Kisangani. Settings and Design: Retrospective study for a period of 5 years, from January 2013 to December 2017, in the Laboratoire de Santé Publique of Kisangani. Materials and Methods: The culture and sensitivity data of the pathogens from different clinical samples were collected from the records of Laboratoire de Santé Publique of Kisangani for study period. Samples were cultured on blood agar and MacConkey media and incubated at 37°C overnight, and organisms were identified by standard methods. Antibiotic susceptibility was carried out by Kirby?Bauer disk diffusion method, according to the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute guidelines. Results: From a total of 1530 strains of pathogenic bacteria isolated from patient samples, 823 (53.8%) of them were Staphylococcus aureus, 240 (15.7%) Enterobacter sp., 218 (14.2%) Escherichia coli, 113 (7.4%), 44 (3%) Pseudomonas aeruginosa, 34 (2.2%) Streptococcus pyogenes, 30 (2%,0) Proteus mirabilis, 13 (0.8%) Salmonella Typhi, 8 (0.51%) Enterococcus faecalis, 4 (0.2%) Neisseria gonorrhea, and 3 (0.19%) were Klebsiella pneumoniae. The majority of these bacteria pathogens displayed very high multidrug-resistance, particularly to ampicillin and amoxicillin (? 80 %) and to other tested antibiotics. These observations necessitate improving of a rational antibiotic use and call for the surveillance of antimicrobial resistance, in order to reduce the spread of drug-resistant pathogenic bacteria involved in common infections.