An Outbreak of Serratia marcescens in a Moroccan Neonatal Intensive Care Unit

Abstract

Serratia marcescens (S. marcescens) is an Enterobacteriaceae microorganism that is widespread in the environment, which may be the source of nosocomial infections, rare in the newborn but severe, and often in the form of outbreaks. The aim of our study is to report our experience, during an outbreak of S. marcescens, to show the severity of this germ, with review of the literature. Our study was retrospective, including 8 newborns with S. marcescens nosocomial infection, collected in the neonatal intensive care unit of Mohammed VI University Medical Hospital, during the epidemic period, over a period of 2 months (July and August 2016). The mean gestational age of the cases was 36 weeks of amenorrhea. Boys accounted for 75% of the cases. The average weight was 1853 grams. All the patients were initially placed under empiric antibiotic therapy based on ceftriaxone and gentamicin. The mean duration of nosocomial infection, diagnosed in all cases by blood cultures, was 7 days. The strains of S. marcescens were in 75% of the cases sensitive to the cephalosporins, intermediate sensitivity in 12.5% of cases and resistant in 12.5% of cases. The outcome was fatal in 62.5% of cases. S. marcescens nosocomial infections are often reported on epidemic series, and their eradication is not always easy.