Abstract

Introduction: Hospital-acquired infections in neonatology are a major security problem. We aimed to analyze the evolution of nosocomial infections and their epidemiological aspects in neonatal medicine unit of Angondje Teaching Hospital.

Patients and methods: Retrospective and descriptive study, we included newborns hospitalized for more than 48 h from December 2012 to December 2016.

Results: We admitted 727 newborns in hospital during the study period, 521 have been included, and 134 developed a nosocomial infection, a prevalence of 25.7% of cases. In the end, 103 newborns have constituted our study population. The average age was 33.6 weeks, the sex ratio 1.96. The preterm rate was 79.6 percent. The average weight was 2088.4 g. The reason for hospitalization was prematurity in 46.3%, followed by neonatal infection in 21.1%. Tachycardia associated with hypotonia and apnea, was the main sign of discovery in respectively 56.3% and 39.8%. The average delay between appearance of the signs and hospitalization was 07 days. The average of C-reactive protein was 86.64 mg/dl. Thrombocytopenia was most observed disorder on cell blood count. Escherichia coli was the significant bacteria found the blood culture, urines analysis and culture, lumbar puncture, and umbilical venous catheter culture. Imipenem was the most used antibiotics in the management of nosocomial infection in 44.7% of cases. The mortality rate was 23.3%.

Conclusion: The high rate of nosocomial infection and neonatal mortality urge the implementation of effective methods against this scourge in our neonatology unit.

Keywords: Nosocomial infection; Neonatal; Epidemiology; Antimicrobial resistance; CHUA; Gabon