Bacteremia in Children Infected with HIV/AIDS in Minna, Niger State, Nigeria

Bacterial infection was reported to be one of the leading causes of high mortality among children. Bacteremia is a frequent complication found among HIV infected children and usually associated with a poor prognosis. This study was aimed at determine the spectrum of bacterial agent that cause bacteremia among HIV infected children in Minna, Niger State and thus determine the difference between the frequency of occurrence of the isolates from HIV infected with HIV uninfected children. The experimental design adopted was simple randomized non-block design. This study was carried out children attending General Hospital, Minna Niger state, pediatric out-patient department between June 2013 and December, 2013. 91 HIV infected children and 100 uninfected were included in this study. Their ages range from two years to 12 years. Blood culture samples were used to determine the profile of bacterial infection. All isolates from the cultures were identified using Microbact identification kit. The prevalence rate of bacteremia among HIV infected and HIV uninfected children was found to be 21% and 8% respectively. Staphylococcus aureus (11.88%) was the most common gram positive while Klebsiella pneumoniae (13.86%) was the most common gram negative organism from both HIV infected and uninfected participants. There was an increase in non-typhoidal Salmonella spp. without any S. typhi isolated. Bacteremia infection among HIV infected children was found to be significantly higher than those found from HIV negative children (p < 0.05). Bacteremia infections in children are basically caused by gram-positive cocci and gram-negative bacilli. The prevalence rate of bacteremia was found to be significantly higher among HIV infected participants than HIV uninfected children.