Fecal Carriage of Extended-Spectrum β-Lactamase-Producing Enterobacteriaceae Strains Is Associated with Worse Outcome in Patients Hospitalized in the Pediatric Oncology Unit of Beni-Messous Hospital in Algiers, Algeria.

OBJECTIVES

The current study aimed to investigate extended-spectrum β-lactamase-producing Enterobacteriaceae (ESBL-E) fecal carriage in children with different cancers admitted in the pediatric oncology unit of Beni-Messous Hospital (Algiers, Algeria).

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Rectal swabs from children with cancer were sampled from February 2012 to May 2013 within 48 hours following their admission. After species identification and detection of ESBL production by double-disk synergy test (DD test), antibiotic susceptibility was determined by the standard disk diffusion method. Antibiotic resistance genes, including bla genes and plasmid-mediated quinolone resistance (PMQR) genes, were investigated by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The phylogenetic grouping of Escherichia coli strains was determined by PCR.

RESULTS

Of the 171 children studied, 93 (54%) were ESBL carriers. An antibiotic treatment for the last 3 months before admission (p = 0.01), hematological malignancies (p = 0.003), and death (p = 0.0003) were more frequent in the ESBL-E group than in the non-ESBL group. Multivariate analysis showed that hematological malignancies (odds ratio [OR]: 3.9; confidence interval [CI]: 1.1-14.1; p = 0.04) and ESBL-E carriage (OR: 6.2; CI: 1.7-22.00; p = 0.005) were two independent factors associated with increased risk of death. A total of 103 ESBL-E isolates were obtained. Klebsiella pneumoniae and E. coli isolates were the most frequently isolated. PCR amplification showed that all the isolates produced a CTX-M ESBL (CTX-M-15, CTX-M-14, and CTX-M-3). The PMQR genes detected were qnrB, qnrS, and aac(6')-Ib-cr. E. coli isolates were assigned to four major extraintestinal pathogenic E. coli phylogroups, including B2 and D.

CONCLUSION

This study provides, for the first time, insight into epidemiology of the ESBL-E fecal carriage among children with cancer in Algeria.