High load of multi-drug resistant nosocomial neonatal pathogens carried by cockroaches in a neonatal intensive care unit at Tikur Anbessa specialized hospital, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

A total of 400 Blatella germanica roaches were aseptically collected for five consecutive months. Standard laboratory procedures were used to process the samples.From the external and gut homogenates, Klebsiella oxytoca, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Citrobacter spp. Enterobacter cloacae, Citrobacter diversus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Providencia rettgeri, Klebsiella ozaenae, Enterobacter aeruginosa, Salmonella C1, Non Group A streptococcus, Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Acinetobacter spp. and Shigella flexneri were isolated. Multi-drug resistance was seen in all organisms. Resistance to up to all the 12 antimicrobials tested was observed in different pathogens.Cockroaches could play a vector role for nosocomial infections in a neonatal intensive care unit and environmental control measures of these vectors is required to reduce the risk of infection. A high level of drug resistance pattern of the isolated pathogens was demonstrated.Cockroaches are one of the common-place pests widely distributed in public places, including hospitals, food industries and kitchens [1,2]. They feed on animal products, meat and grease, starchy food, sweets and unprotected materials [3]. The most abundantly distributed cockroach species is Blatella germanica and this is also the case as shown in an Ethiopian study [4-6].The fact that cockroaches carry pathogenic bacteria has been reported for many years. Longfellow in 1912 showed that cockroaches carried pathogens, including Proteus vulgaris, Staphylococcus aureus, Citreus and Bacillus of the subtilis type [7]. Fungi of medical importance such as Candida: Rhizopus, Mucor, Alternaria and Aspergillus spp. were isolated from cockroaches in hospital wards and residential areas [8]. A recent study (2010) in central Tehran, Iran reported that at least 25 different species of medically important bacteria, the most frequent being Klebsiella spp., were isolated from Blatella germanica and Periplaneta americanaI collected from public hospitals