Abstract:

Background: Neonatal sepsis is the third leading cause of neonatal mortality and major public health concern particularly in developing countries, with a prevalence of 38.9% in Tanzania. Blood culture is the gold standard in diagnosing neonatal sepsis and drug sensitivity is crucial in leading the management of neonatal sepsis.

Methodology: This was a retrospective cross-sectional hospital-based study that utilized the medical records of neonates admitted in neonatal units at BMC from July 2021 to July 2022. Data extracted from these medical records includes demographic data, history of clinical presentation, and mostly important culture and sensitivity results, treatment used, duration and outcome.

Results: A total of 278 participants medical records were enrolled in the study with 130 (46.8%) having positive microbial culture results. Klebsiella spp. accounted for the majority of isolates followed by E.coli and S. aureus. Amikacin, Ciprofloxacillin, Meropenem and Vancomycin were highly sensitive Antibiotics and they were used in treatment of these patient after culture results. Most patient treated with these antibiotics had good outcome however mortality rate was still observed as being quite high (6.2%).

Conclusion: Prevalence of culture proven sepsis is still a bit high among neonates admitted in neonatal units in our facility with Klebsiella species still accounting for the majority of the isolated organisms. Resistance of several commonly used antibiotics has been also observed so far. However, mortality rate among neonates with neonatal sepsis is continuously decreasing which is a promising finding