Bridging antimicrobial resistance knowledge gaps: The East African perspective on a global problem.

BACKGROUND: There is worldwide concern of rapidly increasing antimicrobial resistance (AMR). However, there is paucity of resistance surveillance data and updated antibiograms in Africa in general. This study was undertaken in Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) -the largest public tertiary referral centre in East & Central Africa-to help bridge existing AMR knowledge and practice gaps. METHODS: A retrospective review of VITEK 2 (bioMérieux) records capturing antimicrobial susceptibility data for the year 2015 was done and analysed using WHONET and SPSS. RESULTS: Analysis of 624 isolates revealed AMR rates higher than most recent local and international reports. 88% of isolates tested were multi-drug resistant (MDR) whereas 26% were extensively-drug resistant (XDR). E. coli and K. pneumoniae had poor susceptibility to penicillins (8-48%), cephalosporins (16-43%), monobactams (17-29%), fluoroquinolones (22-44%) and trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (7%). Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Acinetobacter baumanii were resistant to penicillins and cephalosporins, with reduced susceptibility to carbapenems (70% and 27% respectively). S aureus had poor susceptibility to penicillins (3%) and trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (29%) but showed excellent susceptibility to imipenem (90%), vancomycin (97%) and linezolid (99%). CONCLUSIONS: The overwhelming resistance to commonly used antibiotics heralds a clarion call towards strengthening antimicrobial stewardship programmes and regular AMR regional surveillance.

Glucose-lowering therapies, adequacy of metabolic control, and their relationship with comorbid depression in outpatients with type 2 diabetes in a tertiary hospital in Kenya.

BACKGROUND: Depression and diabetes mellitus are important comorbid conditions with serious health consequences. When depression and diabetes are comorbid, depression negatively affects self-management activities of diabetes with serious consequences. Relationship between treatment regimens of diabetes, the adequacy of glycemic control, and occurrence of comorbid depression is not known among our patients. PATIENTS AND METHODS: This was a cross-sectional descriptive study at the outpatient diabetes clinic of the Kenyatta National Hospital where 220 ambulatory patients with type 2 diabetes on follow-up were systematically sampled. Sociodemographic data and clinical information were documented. The Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) was used to assess depression. Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid-anticoagulated blood was used for glycated hemoglobin (HbA1C) assay on automated system, COBAS INTEGRA machine. RESULTS: Two hundred twenty patients with type 2 diabetes were enrolled. The prevalence of comorbid depression by PHQ-9 was 32.3% (95% confidence interval: 26.4%-38.6%). The majority, 69.5%, had poor glycemic control, HbA1C >7.0%, mean HbA1C was 8.9%±2.4%. Half, 50.4%, of the study subjects were on insulin-containing regimens. Over 8% (84.5%) of the participants with comorbid depression had poor glycemic control, which worsened with increasing severity of depression. There was significant correlation between comorbid depression and poor glycemic control, which is more consistent in the insulin-treated patients. However, patients on oral agents only, both with and without comorbid depression, were similar in their glycemic control. CONCLUSION: Among our type 2 diabetic population with comorbid depression, a large proportion had poor glycemic control, which worsened with increasing severity of depression. The insulin treatment increased the odds of comorbid depression and poor glycemic control in patients. It is justifiable to screen for comorbid depression in patients with type 2 diabetes who are in poor glycemic control, especially the insulin-treated, and then provide specific and appropriate interventions that are necessary to optimize their metabolic outcomes.