Screening for Resistant Bacteria, Antimicrobial Resistance Genes, Sexually Transmitted Infections and spp. in Tissue Samples from Predominantly Vaginally Delivered Placentae in Ivory Coast and Ghana.

Medical complications during pregnancy have been frequently reported from Western Africa with a particular importance of infectious complications. Placental tissue can either become the target of infectious agents itself, such as, e.g., in the case of urogenital schistosomiasis, or be subjected to contamination with colonizing or infection-associated microorganisms of the cervix or the vagina during vaginal delivery. In the retrospective cross-sectional assessment presented here, the quantitative dimension of infection or colonization with selected resistant or pathogenic bacteria and parasites was regionally assessed. To do so, 274 collected placental tissues from Ivory Coastal and Ghanaian women were subjected to selective growth of resistant bacteria, as well as to molecular screening for beta-lactamase genes, spp. and selected bacterial causative agents of sexually transmitted infections (STI). Panton-Valentine-negative methicillin-resistant (MRSA) was grown from 1.8% of the tissue samples, comprising the types t008 and t688, as well as the newly detected ones, t12101 (n = 2) and t12102. While the culture-based recovery of resistant Enterobacterales and nonfermentative rod-shaped Gram-negative bacteria failed, molecular assessments confirmed beta-lactamase genes in 31.0% of the samples with multiple detections of up to four resistance genes per sample and , , , , -like, , -like, -like and occurring in descending order of frequency. The beta-lactamase genes -like, , , , and were not detected. DNA of the urogenital schistosomiasis-associated complex was recorded in 18.6% of the samples, but only a single positive signal for with a high cycle-threshold value in real-time PCR was found. Of note, higher rates of schistosomiasis were observed in Ghana (54.9% vs. 10.3% in Ivory Coast) and Cesarean section was much more frequent in schistosomiasis patients (61.9% vs. 14.8% in women without spp. DNA in the placenta). Nucleic acid sequences of nonlymphogranuloma-venereum-associated and of were recorded in 1.1% and 1.9% of the samples, respectively, while molecular attempts to diagnose and did not lead to positive results. Molecular detection of spp. or STI-associated pathogens was only exceptionally associated with multiple resistance gene detections in the same sample, suggesting epidemiological distinctness. In conclusion, the assessment confirmed considerable prevalence of urogenital schistosomiasis and resistant bacterial colonization, as well as a regionally expected abundance of STI-associated pathogens. Continuous screening offers seem advisable to minimize the risks for the pregnant women and their newborns.