Magnitude and antimicrobial susceptibility profile of bacteria isolated from pediatric sepsis cases at University of Gondar Hospital, Northwest Ethiopia.

BACKGROUND: Sepsis is one of the major causes of morbidity and mortality among pediatric patients throughout the world. The varying microbiological pattern of sepsis warrants the need for researches on the causative organisms and their antimicrobial susceptibility pattern. The epidemiology of neonatal and pediatric sepsis in Ethiopia is under-research. The objective of this study was to evaluate the burden of bacterial pathogens and their antimicrobial susceptibility patterns among children suspected of sepsis. METHODS: An institutional-based prospective cross-sectional study was conducted on 370 pediatric(age birth-15 years) patients suspected of sepsis at the University of Gondar Comprehensive Specialized hospital from December 2020 to November 2021. Blood samples were collected aseptically and inoculated into Tryptone Soya Broth for culture. The organisms grown were identified by standard microbiological methods and subjected to antibiotic susceptibility testing by modified Kirby-Bauer disk diffusion method recommended by Clinical laboratory and standard institute. Methicillin resistance was confirmed using Cefoxitin disk diffusion method. Data entry and analysis were done using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 26 software. A p-value less than 0.05 at 95% confidence interval was considered statically significant. RESULTS: Out of the total 370 study subjects, 21.6% (80/370) of them were culture positive. Of these, 43 (53.8%) and 37 (46.3%) were Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacterial pathogens, respectively. The most prevalent Gram-positive bacterial isolate was Staphylococcus aureus (n = 24; 30%) and coagulase negative staphylococci (n = 7; 8.8%). Among the Gram-negative bacterial isolates, the leading bacteria was Klebsiella pneumoniae (n = 20; 25%) followed by Escherichia coli (n = 7; 8.8%). Clindamycin, Chloramphenicol, Gentamicin and Ciprofloxacin were the most effective antibiotics against Gram-positive bacterial isolates while Amikacin, Meropenem and Chloramphenicol were effective against Gram-negative pathogens. Methicillin resistance was detected in 45.8% of Staphylococcus aureus. Multi-drug resistance (MDR) antimicrobial susceptibility pattern was observed in 76% of the bacterial isolates. CONCLUSION: Gram positive bacteria were the predominant isolates among pediatric sepsis cases and most of the bacterial isolates showed MDR. Staphylococcus aureus and Klebsiella pneumoniae were frequently isolated bacteria. The high prevalence of drug resistance warrants rational use of antibiotics and the need for regular antibiotic susceptibility surveillance studies.

Evaluating the impact of land use and land cover changes on sediment yield dynamics in the upper Awash basin, Ethiopia the case of Koka reservoir.

Land Use and Land Cover changes (LULC) are the driving forces to change the hydrological response of the watershed. In this study, the Quantum Geography Information System Interference Soil and Water Assessment Tool Plus (QSWAT-PLUS) model was applied to evaluate the effects of LULC on sediment load at the Upper Awash River Basin (UARB) which are causing sedimentation problems in Koka reservoir. The LULC data for 2005, 2010, and 2015 were obtained from historical satellite images using Earth Resources Observation and Science (ERDAS) 2014. The classification of LULC changes showed that the agricultural practice, and the settlement land both increased by 6.7 % and 6.3 %, respectively. In contrast, the forest area, woodland, shrubland, and water bodies decreased by 5.47 %,0.93 %,0.96 %, and 1.34 % from 2000 to 2015 respectively. The model evaluation results were satisfactory for the three LULC scenarios. The average annual surface runoff volume for the 2005 LULC data was 182.2 mm, which increased to 193.29 mm in 2010 and 205.3 mm in 2015. Similarly, the average annual sediment yield that would enter to the Koka reservoir under the 2005, 2010, and 2015 LULC scenarios were 26.03 t/ha/yr, 26.34 t/ha/yr, and 28.33 t/ha/yr respectively. In general, streamflow, surface runoff, and sediment output increased by 4.55 %, 12.68 %, and 8.84 %, respectively due to the rapid change of LULC from 2000 to 2015. Temporarily, the sediment load at the upstream side of the Koka Dam watershed was 60.8 % during the wet season. The southwest direction of the watershed was identified as the primary erosion-prone area. Based on the simulation results, the filter strip, contour, and terraces reduced the watershed sediment yield by up to 60 %, 65 %, and 80 %, respectively. Therefore, the selected best management practices are highly effective in reducing silt along the entire upstream side of the Koka Dam watershed.

Evaluation of semi-distributed hydrological models performance in borkena watershed; upper awash basin, Ethiopia.

Flood is one of the most significant disasters in human life and economic destruction. To challenge this disaster, the use of models is very important to predict the magnitude and impact of river flow and to find a solution of the problems. This research is aimed to compare the performance of semi-distributed hydrological models in the Borkena watershed. The selected semi-distributed hydrological models were soil and water assessment tool (SWAT), hydrological engineering center-hydrologic modeling system (HEC-HMS), hydrologiska byråns vattenbalansavdelnin (HBV), and parameter efficient distribution (PED). The models were calibrated from 1999 to 2009 and validated from 2010 to 2015 using daily data. Based on validation results; The Nashsutclif (NSC) output of the SWAT, HEC-HMS, HBV, and PED models were 0.68. 0.66, 0.65, and 0.65, coefficient of determination (R2) 0.69, 0.67, 0.71, and 0.70, percentage of bias (PBIAS) -6.5, 0.6, 27.34, and 10.28, and root mean square error (RMSE) 14.24, 17.45, 17.63 and 0.91, respectively. Based on the models' performance results in Borkena watershed, the first effective model was SWAT and the second one was HEC-HMS. The HBV and PED models took third and fourth places respectively. The overall results show that the two infiltration excess models (SWAT and HEC-HMS) were performed in a better way than the two saturation excess models (HBV and PED) on this watershed. Therefore, according to the model output, the Borkena watershed is an infiltration excess area.