HIV Exposure and Neonatal Sepsis: A Descriptive Etiological Study

Low- and middle-income countries lack data on culture-confirmed sepsis in HIV-exposed infants, despite the reported heightened risk of infectious morbidity. This study describes culture-confirmed sepsis and antibiotic resistance patterns among HIV-exposed children in a large etiological cohort study in Kampala, Uganda.

This was a prospective birth cohort study based at 2 Ugandan sites, as part of the Progressing Group B Streptococcal Vaccines (PROGRESS) study. Any infant with risk factors, signs, or symptoms of infection presenting before 3 months of age had a blood culture and nasopharyngeal swab taken to determine the etiology of neonatal and young infant sepsis.

Among 4492 blood cultures, 460 were obtained from HIV-exposed infants. Nine infants (1.9%) had positive blood cultures. The most frequently isolated organisms were Escherichia coli, group B Streptococcus, and Streptococcus viridans, and these organisms demonstrated resistance to the common antibiotics (aminoglycosides, penicillins, and cephalosporins) used for management of suspected sepsis. A higher proportion of the exposed babies died vs HIV-unexposed (15.8 vs 11.2; P = .005). Nasopharyngeal swabs were collected from 114 infants, with 7.9% positive for at least one virus or bacterium.

Future work is needed to investigate why mortality among HIV-exposed infants persists despite maternal antiretroviral treatment. Antimicrobial resistance is an increasing concern in this setting.