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Microbiological profiles and antimicrobial resistance patterns of pediatric bloodstream pathogens in China, 2016–2018

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European Journal of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Objectives

This study aimed to investigate the microbiological profiles and antimicrobial resistance patterns of bloodstream pathogens in Chinese children.

Methods

This retrospective study was conducted at 13 tertiary hospitals in China during 2016–2018. The first bloodstream isolates of the same species from one pediatric patient < 18 years were included to this study for analysis. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing was determined based on minimum inhibitory concentrations or Kirby-Bauer disk diffusion methods according to the 2018 Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute guidelines.

Results

Overall, 9345 nonduplicate bloodstream isolates were collected. Top 10 pathogens included Coagulase-negative staphylococcus (CoNS) (44.4%), Escherichia coli (10.2%), Klebsiella pneumoniae (5.9%), Staphylococcus aureus (5.0%), Streptococcus pneumoniae (4.9%), Pseudomonas aeruginosa(2.8%), Enterococcus faecium (2.7%), Stenotrophomonas maltophilia (2.4%), Salmonella spp. (2.3%), and Streptococcus agalactiae (2.0%). The commonest pathogens apart from CoNS in age group 0–28 days, 29 days–2 months, 3-11 months, 1–5 years, and ≥ 5 years were Escherichia coli (17.2%), Escherichia coli (14.0%), Escherichia coli (7.9%), Streptococcus pneumoniae (10.7%) ,and Staphylococcus aureus (13.6%), respectively. The overall prevalence of extended-spectrum β-lactamases-producing Enterobacteriaceae, carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae, carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii, and carbapenem-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa were 41.4, 28.4, 31.7, and 5.6%, respectively. The overall prevalence of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, penicillin-resistant Streptococcus pneumoniae and vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus was 38.1, 28.3, and 0.7%, respectively.

Conclusions

The major bacterial pathogens have differences in different age groups, ward types, and regions in Chinese children, and the commonest causing microorganism was the Escherichia coli, especially in neonates and infants. High prevalence of important resistant phenotypes is of a serious concern.

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Acknowledgment

We sincerely thank Prof. Hong Zhao, the secretary of China Society of Infectious Diseases, for her help with the program initiation. We thank the members of the collaborative working group of pediatric subgroups of China Society of Infectious Diseases for their collecting the data for this study. We sincerely thanks Dr. Benedikt D. Huttner, who is an infectious diseases specialist of Division of Infectious Diseases, Geneva University Hospitals and Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva, for his valuable suggestion on this study protocol before the initiation of this study.

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Correspondence to Yibing Cheng or Mei Zeng.

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All authors declared no potential conflicts of interest to disclose.

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This study was reviewed and informed consent from patients was not required by the ethics committee because there was no contact with patients and all data were de-identified.

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Qiu, Y., Yang, J., Chen, Y. et al. Microbiological profiles and antimicrobial resistance patterns of pediatric bloodstream pathogens in China, 2016–2018. Eur J Clin Microbiol Infect Dis 40, 739–749 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10096-020-04069-2

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