Klebsiella pneumoniae related community-acquired acute lower respiratory infections in Cambodia: clinical characteristics and treatment.

BACKGROUND: In many Asian countries, Klebsiella pneumoniae (KP) is the second pathogen responsible for community-acquired pneumonia. Yet, very little is known about KP etiology in ALRI in Cambodia, a country that has one of the weakest medical infrastructures in the region. We present here the first clinico-radiological description of KP community-acquired ALRI in hospitalized Cambodian patients. METHODS: Through ALRI surveillance in two provincial hospitals, KP was isolated from sputum and blood cultures, and identified by API20E gallery from patients ≥ 5 years-old with fever and respiratory symptoms onset ≤14 days. Antibiotics susceptibility testing was provided systematically to clinicians when bacteria were isolated. We collected patients' clinical, radiological and microbiological data and their outcome 3 months after discharge. We also compared KP-related with other bacteria-related ALRI to determine risk factors for KP infection. RESULTS: From April 2007 to December 2009, 2315 ALRI patients ≥ 5 years-old were enrolled including 587 whose bacterial etiology could be assigned. Of these, 47 (8.0%) had KP infection; their median age was 55 years and 68.1% were females. Reported prior medication was high (42.5%). Patients' chest radiographs showed pneumonia (61.3% including 39% that were necrotizing), preexisting parenchyma lesions (29.5%) and pleural effusions alone (4.5%) and normal parenchyma (4.5%). Five patients had severe conditions on admission and one patient died during hospitalization. Of the 39 patients that were hospital discharged, 14 died including 12 within 1 month after discharge. Only 13 patients (28%) received an appropriate antibiotherapy. Extended-spectrum beta-lactamases (ESBL) - producing strains were found in 8 (17.0%) patients. Female gender (Odds ratio (OR) 2.1; p = 0.04) and diabetes mellitus (OR 3.1; p = 0.03) were independent risk factors for KP-related ALRI. CONCLUSIONS: KP ALRI in Cambodia has high fatality rate, are more frequently found in women, and should be considered in diabetic patients. The extremely high frequency of ESBL-producing strains in the study is alarming in the context of uncontrolled antibiotic consumption and in absence of microbiology capacity in most public-sector hospitals.

Pulmonary melioidosis in Cambodia: a prospective study.

BACKGROUND: Melioidosis is a disease caused by Burkholderia pseudomallei and considered endemic in South-East Asia but remains poorly documented in Cambodia. We report the first series of hospitalized pulmonary melioidosis cases identified in Cambodia describing clinical characteristics and outcomes. METHODS: We characterized cases of acute lower respiratory infections (ALRI) that were identified through surveillance in two provincial hospitals. Severity was defined by systolic blood pressure, cardiac frequency, respiratory rate, oxygen saturation and body temperature. B. pseudomallei was detected in sputum or blood cultures and confirmed by API20NE gallery. We followed up these cases between 6 months and 2 years after hospital discharge to assess the cost-of-illness and long-term outcome. RESULTS: During April 2007 - January 2010, 39 ALRI cases had melioidosis, of which three aged ≤2 years; the median age was 46 years and 56.4% were males. A close contact with soil and water was identified in 30 patients (76.9%). Pneumonia was the main radiological feature (82.3%). Eleven patients were severe cases. Twenty-four (61.5%) patients died including 13 who died within 61 days after discharge. Of the deceased, 23 did not receive any antibiotics effective against B. pseudomallei. Effective drugs that were available did not include ceftazidime. Mean total illness-related costs was of US$65 (range $25-$5000). Almost two-thirds (61.5%) incurred debt and 28.2% sold land or other belongings to pay illness-related costs. CONCLUSIONS: The observed high fatality rate is likely explained by the lack or limited access to efficient antibiotics and under-recognition of the disease among clinicians, which led to inappropriate therapy.

Acute viral lower respiratory tract infections in Cambodian children: clinical and epidemiologic characteristics.

BACKGROUND: Viruses are detected in most hospitalized children admitted for acute respiratory infections. Etiologic understanding is needed to improve clinical management and prevention, particularly in resource-limited tropical countries. METHODS: A 3-year prospective descriptive study was conducted among Cambodian children admitted to 2 provincial hospitals for acute lower respiratory tract infection. Molecular detection for 18 viral pathogens using multiplex polymerase chain reaction/reverse transcription polymerase chain reactions was performed. RESULTS: We enrolled 1006 children less than 5 years of age of whom 423 (42%), 428 (42%) and 155 (16%) had pneumonia, bronchiolitis and unclassified lower respiratory tract infections, respectively. Of the 551 (55%) with documented viral infection, a single virus was detected in 491 (89%), including rhinovirus (n = 169; 34%), respiratory syncytial virus (n = 167; 34%), parainfluenza virus (n = 40; 8%), human metapneumovirus (n = 39; 8%), influenza virus (n = 31; 6%), bocavirus (n = 16; 3%), adenovirus (n = 15; 3%), coronavirus (n = 9; 2%) and enterovirus (n = 5; 1%). Coinfections with multiple viruses were detected in 6% (2 viruses detected in 59 cases; 3 viruses detected in 1 case). CONCLUSION: Similar to other tropical countries, rhinovirus and respiratory syncytial virus were the principal viral pathogens detected among children hospitalized for lower tract respiratory infection in Cambodia.

Acute lower respiratory infections on lung sequelae in Cambodia, a neglected disease in highly tuberculosis-endemic country.

BACKGROUND: Little is known about post-infectious pulmonary sequelae in countries like Cambodia where tuberculosis is hyper-endemic and childhood pulmonary infections are highly frequent. We describe the characteristics of hospitalized Cambodian patients presenting with community-acquired acute lower respiratory infections (ALRI) on post-infectious pulmonary sequelae (ALRIPS). METHODS: Between 2007 and 2010, inpatients ≥15 years with ALRI were prospectively recruited. Clinical, biological, radiological and microbiological data were collected. Chest radiographs were re-interpreted by experts to compare patients with ALRIPS, on previously healthy lungs (ALRIHL) and active pulmonary tuberculosis (TB). Patients without chest radiograph abnormality or with abnormality suggestive as other chronic respiratory diseases were excluded from this analysis. RESULTS: Among the 2351 inpatients with community-acquired ALRI, 1800 were eligible: 426 (18%) ALRIPS, 878 (37%) ALRIHL and 496 (21%) TB. ALRIPS patients had less frequent fever than other ALRI (p < 0.001) and more productive cough than ALRIHL (p < 0.001). Streptococcus pneumoniae, Haemophilus influenzae, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa accounted for 83% of ALRIPS group positive cultures. H. influenzae and P. aeruginosa were significantly associated with ALRIPS compared with ALRIHL. Treatment was appropriate in 58% of ALRIPS patients. Finally, 79% of ALRIPS were not recognized by local clinicians. In-hospital mortality was low (1%) but probably underestimated in the ALRIPS group. CONCLUSION: ALRIPS remains often misdiagnosed as TB with inappropriate treatment in low-income countries. Better-targeted training programs would help reduce the morbidity burden and financial costs.

Field evaluation and impact on clinical management of a rapid diagnostic kit that detects dengue NS1, IgM and IgG.

BACKGROUND: Dengue diagnosis is complex and until recently only specialized laboratories were able to definitively confirm dengue infection. Rapid tests are now available commercially making biological diagnosis possible in the field. The aim of this study was to evaluate a combined dengue rapid test for the detection of NS1 and IgM/IgG antibodies. The evaluation was made prospectively in the field conditions and included the study of the impact of its use as a point-of-care test for case management as well as retrospectively against a panel of well-characterized samples in a reference laboratory. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: During the prospective study, 157 patients hospitalized for a suspicion of dengue were enrolled. In the hospital laboratories, the overall sensitivity, specificity, PPV and NPV of the NS1/IgM/IgG combination tests were 85.7%, 83.9%, 95.6% and 59.1% respectively, whereas they were 94,4%, 90.0%, 97.5% and 77.1% respectively in the national reference laboratory at Institut Pasteur in Cambodia. These results demonstrate that optimal performances require adequate training and quality assurance. The retrospective study showed that the sensitivity of the combined kit did not vary significantly between the serotypes and was not affected by the immune status or by the interval of time between onset of fever and sample collection. The analysis of the medical records indicates that the physicians did not take into consideration the results obtained with the rapid test including for care management and use of antibiotic therapy. CONCLUSIONS: In the context of our prospective field study, we demonstrated that if the SD Bioline Dengue Duo kit is correctly used, a positive result highly suggests a dengue case but a negative result doesn't rule out a dengue infection. Nevertheless, Cambodian pediatricians in their daily practice relied on their clinical diagnosis and thus the false negative results obtained did not directly impact on the clinical management.