Changing Patterns of Causative Organisms of Neonatal Septicaemia at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital.

Abstract

Summary: A prospective study of neonatal septicaemia at the newborn unit of Lagos University Teaching Hospital over a ten-month period has revealed an overall rate of 35 per 1000 live births. The commonest causative organism was Klebsiella pneumoniae, be ing responsible for 45 percent of the isolates, a finding that was at variance with that of a study carried out in the same institution over 20 years earlier which showed that E coli was the com monest organism. Staphylococcus aureus and coagulase negative staphylococcus were second and third with 12 percent and nine percent, respectively. Klebsiella pneumoniae was resistant to the commonly used and readily available antibiotics such as gentamicin; conversely, all strains of the organism were sensitive to ofloxacin. While further tests are being carried out on the safety of ofloxacin in neonatal practice, we suggest that, as recommended by others, a combina tion of cloxacillin and amikacin or tobramycin should be the initial therapy in neonatal septicaemia, while awaiting results of bacterial cultures.