Research Article Bacterial Sepsis in Patients with Visceral Leishmaniasis in Northwest Ethiopia Mengistu Endris, 1 Yegnasew Takele, 2 Desalegn Woldeyohannes, 3,4 Moges Tiruneh, 1 Rezika Mohammed, 2 Feleke Moges, 1 Lutgarde Lynen, 5 Jan Jacobs, 5 Johan van Griensven, 5 and Ermias Diro 5,6 1 Department of Medical Microbiology, University of Gondar, Ethiopia 2 Leishmaniasis Research and Treatment Center, University of Gondar Hospital, Ethiopia 3 Department of Immunology and Molecular Biology, University of Gondar, Ethiopia 4 Department of Public Health, Addis Ababa Science and Technology University, Ethiopia 5 Department of Clinical Sciences, Institute of Tropical Medicine, Antwerp, Belgium 6 Department of Internal Medicine, University of Gondar, Ethiopia Correspondence should be addressed to Mengistu Endris; mengistu06@gmail.com Received 9 February 2014; Accepted 21 April 2014; Published 6 May 2014 Academic Editor: Anastasia Kotanidou Copyright © 2014 Mengistu Endris et al. his is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Background and Objectives. Visceral leishmaniasis (VL) is one of the neglected diseases afecting the poorest segment of world populations. Sepsis is one of the predictors for death of patients with VL. his study aimed to assess the prevalence and factors associated with bacterial sepsis, causative agents, and their antimicrobial susceptibility patterns among patients with VL. Methods. A cross-sectional study was conducted among parasitologically conirmed VL patients suspected of sepsis admitted to the University of Gondar Hospital, Northwest Ethiopia, from February 2012 to May 2012. Blood cultures and other clinical samples were collected and cultured following the standard procedures. Results. Among 83 sepsis suspected VL patients 16 (19.3%) had culture conirmed bacterial sepsis. he most frequently isolated organism was Staphylococcus aureus (68.8%; 11/16), including two methicillin-resistant isolates (MRSA). Patients with focal bacterial infection were more likely to have bacterial sepsis ( < 0.001). Conclusions. he prevalence of culture conirmed bacterial sepsis was high, predominantly due to S. aureus. Concurrent focal bacterial infection was associated with bacterial sepsis, suggesting that focal infections could serve as sources for bacterial sepsis among VL patients. Careful clinical evaluation for focal infections and prompt initiation of empiric antibiotic treatment appears warranted in VL patients. 1. Background Visceral leishmaniasis (VL) is a vector-born disseminated protozoan infection caused by the Leishmania donovani species complex, predominantly afecting tissue macro- phages. he zoonotic form, with dogs as main reservoir, is caused by Leishmania infantum and is prevalent in sev- eral regions including the Mediterranean basin and South America. he anthroponotic form is caused by Leishmania donovani. his form is prevalent in the Indian subcontinent and East Africa, mainly Sudan and Ethiopia [1]. VL is the second largest cause of parasitic death ater malaria and is responsible for an estimated 200,000 to 400,000 cases each year worldwide [2]. he east Africa region is the second in disease burden next to the Indian subcontinent, where Sudan and Ethiopia account for the majority of the case load [2]. In Ethiopia, the northwest lowlands (Metema and Humera districts) bordering Sudan are the most important VL endemic foci accounting for 60% of the VL burden in the country [3]. his region also has the highest burden of VL-HIV coinfection in the world with the HIV prevalence among VL patients ranging from 19% to Hindawi Publishing Corporation BioMed Research International Volume 2014, Article ID 361058, 7 pages http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2014/361058