Research Article Bacterial Aetiologies of Lower Respiratory Tract Infections among Adults in Yaoundé, Cameroon Serges Tchatchouang, 1,2,3 Ariane Nzouankeu, 2 Sebastien Kenmoe, 1 Laure Ngando, 2 Veronique Penlap, 3 Marie-Christine Fonkoua, 2 Eric-Walter Pefura-Yone, 4 and Richard Njouom 1 1 Department of Virology, Centre Pasteur of Cameroon, Member of the International Network of Pasteur Institutes, P.O. Box 1274, Yaound´ e, Cameroon 2 Department of Bacteriology, Centre Pasteur of Cameroon, Member of the International Network of Pasteur Institutes, P.O. Box 1274, Yaound´ e, Cameroon 3 Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Science, University of Yaound´ e 1, P.O. Box 812, Yaound´ e, Cameroon 4 Department of Pneumology, Jamot Hospital, P.O. Box 4021, Yaound´ e, Cameroon Correspondence should be addressed to Richard Njouom; njouom@pasteur-yaounde.org Received 23 January 2019; Revised 28 March 2019; Accepted 11 April 2019; Published 17 April 2019 Academic Editor: Roberto Cangemi Copyright © 2019 Serges Tchatchouang et al. Tis 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. Lower respiratory tract infections (LRTIs) remain a challenge in African healthcare settings and only few data are available on their aetiology in Cameroon. Te purpose of this study was to access the bacterial cause of LRTIs in patients in Cameroon by two methods. Methods. Participants with LRTIs were enrolled in the referral centre for respiratory diseases in Yaound´ e city and its surroundings. To detect bacteria, specimens were tested by conventional bacterial culture and a commercial reverse-transcriptase real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assay. One hundred forty-one adult patients with LRTIs were enrolled in the study. Among the participants, 46.8% were positive for at least one bacterium. Streptococcus pneumoniae and Haemophilus infuenzae were the most detected bacteria with 14.2% (20/141) followed by Klebsiella pneumoniae, 9.2% (13/141), Staphylococcus aureus, 7.1% (10/141), and Moraxella catarrhalis, 4.3% (6/141). Bacterial coinfection accounted for 23% (14/61) with Haemophilus infuenzae being implicated in 19.7% (12/61). Te diagnostic performance of RT-PCR for bacteria detection (43.3%) was signifcantly diferent from that of culture (17.7%) (p< 0.001). Only Streptococcus pneumoniae detection was associated with empyema by RT-PCR (p<0.001). Tese fndings enhance understanding of bacterial aetiologies in order to improve respiratory infection management and treatment. It also highlights the need to implement molecular tools as part of the diagnosis of LRTIs. 1. Introduction Lower respiratory tract infections (LRTIs) are major cause of morbidity and mortality globally [1]. In Africa, they are one of the most prevalent causes of death [2]. Particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, high case fatality ratios were reported in Somalia and Chad with 546.8 and 511.3 deaths per 100 000 inhabitants, respectively, when compared to the lowest mortality (0.65 deaths per 100 000 inhabitants) registered in Finland (Europe) [2]. LRTI is a broad terminology encompassing diferent clinical presentations and aetiolo- gies, which may vary according to, for example, age and season among others [3]. Overall, viruses are responsible for a large proportion of LRTIs but antibiotics are ofen unnecessarily prescribed for their treatment without any laboratory testing [4, 5] and can contribute to the emergence of antimicrobial resistance [6]. Other causes of LRTIs are bacteria: Streptococcus pneumoniae, Haemophilus infuenzae, Klebsiella pneumoniae, and Staphylococcus aureus being the most common [2, 7, 8]. Hindawi BioMed Research International Volume 2019, Article ID 4834396, 7 pages https://doi.org/10.1155/2019/4834396