Bacterial etiology in patients with respiratory tract infections at Yaoundé, Cameroon.

CaHReF 20116, Yaoundé Conges hall, 23 – 26 August 2016 , PL046

Centre Pasteur du Cameroun; Department of Biochemistry

Respiratory tract infections (RTI) are serious public health problems over the world and mainly in under developed countries where there are not well equipped technical facilities for their diagnosis. With about 3,941,000 deaths by respiratory infections worldwide annually, virus and bacteria are major pathogens involved. To reduce plague mainly due to bacteria, detection methods have improved the diagnosis rates for patients with RTI. 
The aim of this study was to evaluate bacterial etiology of RTI in non-hospitalized (ILI: Influenza-like illness) and hospitalized (SARI: Severe Acute Respiratory Infection) patients at Yaoundé in Cameroon.

One hundred and seven patients have been enrolled with mostly children with RTI between 2013 and 2015 at Essos Hospital Centre (CHE) under IMMI project. Clinical and laboratory follow-up were performed. Nasopharyngeal samples were examined for bacterial pathogens by Fast-Track Diagnosis Bacterial Community-Acquired Pneumonia (FTD-CAP).

The etiological detection rate in 42 SARI and 65 ILI patients for respiratory tract bacteria by the FTD-CAP showed that Moraxella catarrhalis (59.5% for SARI and 69.2% for ILI) and Haemophilus influenzae (61.9% for SARI and 56.9% for ILI), were the most commonly identified bacteria followed by Streptococcus pneumoniae (50% for SARI and 38.5% for ILI). 

Since Moraxella catarrhalis colonize highly respiratory tract in children, the most important cause of severity of bacterial infections in patients in this study would be due to Streptococcus pneumoniae and Haemophilus influenzae. However, these two bacteria need further investigations to know if there are those included in the severity of the illness from their serotypes. 

Respiratory tract bacteria, FTD-CAP, Cameroon