An Overview of Extensively Drug-resistant Salmonella Typhi from a Tertiary Care Hospital in Pakistan

Since 2016, the province of Sindh is in the limelight because of its association with the emergence and spread of extensively drug-resistant Salmonella typhi (XDR S. typhi). Although its global spread has been proven in several studies, our information regarding its countrywide existence is still insufficient. In the last four years, few cases of XDR S. typhi were identified at the Shifa International Hospital (SIH), Islamabad, Pakistan. This article aims to report demographic patterns, clinical presentations, and treatment outcome of these cases.

This study was conducted at SIH, Islamabad, on blood culture-proven XDR S. typhi cases from January 2015 to December 2018. The data were retrieved from the hospital's record system. Patient demographic details, clinical presentations, management, and disease outcomes were evaluated and statistical analysis was performed through IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, version 23.0 (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY).

A total of 30 blood culture-proven XDR S. typhi cases were identified and 80% (24) of them were reported in 2018. The mean age at presentation was 12.8±9.6 years. Twelve (40%) patients came from Islamabad, nine (30%) from Rawalpindi, and eight (26.6%) from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK). All patients, except one, were prescribed meropenem and azithromycin. Three patients developed complications but no mortality was documented. Over four years, these XDR S. typhi cases contributed 5.01% to the total S. typhi isolates.

This study validates the existence of XDR S. typhi all over Pakistan. It stresses upon the fact that more stringent methods should be adopted for its identification and control.