Antimicrobial resistance pattern of Klebsiella isolated from various clinical samples in Ethiopia: a systematic review and meta-analysis

The burden of Klebsiella drug resistance to antimicrobials is a major public health concern worldwide; particularly the problem is severe in developing countries including Ethiopia. Therefore, the aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis is to establish the pooled estimate of Klebsiella drug resistance; and antimicrobial-specific resistance pattern among Klebsiella clinical isoaltes in Ethiopia.

Articles were searched from PubMed, Google Scholar, and Science direct and grey literature from 2009 to 2019. Four authors have independently extracted data on the prevalence and antimicrobial resistance pattern of the isolates. Statistical analysis was conducted by using Open meta-analyst (version 3.13) and Comprehensive meta-analysis (version 3.3). The main outcome measures were the overall Klebsiella resistance; and drug-specific resistance patterns. A random-effects model was used to determine the pooled resistance prevalence with 95% confidence interval (CI), and significant heterogeneity was considered at p < 0.1; and I² > 50% using DerSimonian and Laird method. In addition, subgroup analyses were conducted to improve the outcome.

We obtained 174 potentially relevant studies through searching electronic databases, and finally, 35 eligible studies were included for meta-analysis. A total of 13,269 study samples participated, from which 1017 Klebsiella species were isolated. The overall Klebsiella resistance in Ethiopia was found to stand at 53.75% (95% CI: 48.35—58.94%). Based on the subgroup analyses; the highest (64.39%); and lowest (46.16%) values were seen in Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples of Ethiopia; and Tigray regions respectively; and the highest Klebsiella resistance was reported to ampicillin (90.56%), followed by amoxicillin (76.01%) and trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (66.91%). A relatively low level of resistance rate was observed to amikacin (16.74%) and cefoxitin (29.73%).

The pooled Klebsiella resistance was found to be considerably high (53.75%) to most of the essential antibiotics in Ethiopia. Klebsiella was highly resistant to ampicillin and amoxicillin but relatively lower to amikacin. Therefore, appropriate interventional strategies need to be taken to address the emerging resistance of Klebsiella species.