Objective: Bacterial meningitis (BM) is a public health threat with considerable mortality and morbidity worldwide; particularly in the meningitis belt of Africa where Ethiopia is located. The study aims to assess the prevalence, antibiogram, and associated factors of bacteria isolated from presumptive meningitis patients at Debre Markos Comprehensive Specialized Hospital (DMCSH), Northwest Ethiopia.
Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study between March 1, 2021, and May 30, 2021. Socio-demographic and clinical data were collected using structured questionnaires. Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) was collected aseptically, and gram stain, culture, and biochemical tests were performed to identify bacterial isolates. An antimicrobial susceptibility test was conducted using the disc diffusion method on Mueller-Hinton agar (MHA). Data were entered into EpiData version 3.1 (Epidata Association, Denmark) and exported to SPSS version 23 software (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY) for analysis. P value
2Central Tuberculosis Reference Laboratory (CTRL), Dar es Salaam, Tanzania;
3School of Life Science and Bioengineering, Nelson Mandela African Institution of Science and Technology, Arusha, Tanzania;
4University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada;
5Department of Epidemiology and Statistics, Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
Correspondence: Nicholaus P Mnyambwa
Email lodnicho@gmail.com
Introduction: Antimicrobial resistance is one of the biggest threats of modern public health. Although sub-Saharan Africa is highly burdened with infectious diseases, current data on antimicrobial resistance are sparse.
Methods: A prospective study was conducted between October 2018 and September 2019 to assess the antibiotic susceptibility patterns of clinical bacterial isolates obtained from four referral hospitals in Tanzania. We used standard media and Kirby-Bauer disc diffusion methods as per Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) stan