Antimicrobial resistance predicts death in Tanzanian children with bloodstream infections: a prospective cohort study.

Background: Bloodstream infection is a common cause of hospitalization, morbidity and death in children. The impact of antimicrobial resistance and HIV infection on outcome is not firmly established.

Methods: We assessed the incidence of bloodstream infection and risk factors for fatal outcome in a prospective cohort study of 1828 consecutive admissions of children aged zero to seven years with signs of systemic infection.

High rate of fatal cases of pediatric septicemia caused by gram-negative bacteria with extended-spectrum beta-lactamases in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

Extended-spectrum beta-lactamases (ESBLs) were present in high proportions of Escherichia coli (25% [9 of 36]) and Klebsiella pneumoniae isolates (17% [9 of 52]) causing pediatric septicemia at a tertiary hospital in Tanzania. Patients with septicemia due to ESBL-producing organisms had a significantly higher fatality rate than those with non-ESBL isolates (71% versus 39%, P = 0.039).

Tuberculosis (presumed congenital) in a neonatal unit in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania.

This is the first report of congenital tuberculosis from Tanzania. It discusses the problems of diagnosis in a typical neonatal unit in a developing country. Three cases are reported within 1 year.