PONE-D-21-25316

Fecal carriage of extended spectrum beta -lactamase producing Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae among children under five years in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.   

PLOS ONE

Dear Dr. Tola,

Thank you for submitting your manuscript to PLOS ONE. After careful consideration, we feel that it has merit but does not fully meet PLOS ONE’s publication criteria as it currently stands. Therefore, we invite you to submit a revised version of the manuscript that addresses the points raised during the review process.

 A major revision is required. The manuscript should be revised for English Editing and grammar mistakes. 

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We look forward to receiving your revised manuscript.

Kind regards,

Abdelazeem Mohamed Algammal, Prof, Ph.D

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

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Please explain i) why written consent was not obtained, ii) how you documented participant consent, and iii) whether the ethics committees/IRB approved this consent procedure.

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Reviewers' comments:

Reviewer's Responses to Questions

Comments to the Author

1. Is the manuscript technically sound, and do the data support the conclusions?

The manuscript must describe a technically sound piece of scientific research with data that supports the conclusions. Experiments must have been conducted rigorously, with appropriate controls, replication, and sample sizes. The conclusions must be drawn appropriately based on the data presented.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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2. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously?

Reviewer #1: N/A

Reviewer #2: Yes

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3. Have the authors made all data underlying the findings in their manuscript fully available?

The PLOS Data policy requires authors to make all data underlying the findings described in their manuscript fully available without restriction, with rare exception (please refer to the Data Availability Statement in the manuscript PDF file). The data should be provided as part of the manuscript or its supporting information, or deposited to a public repository. For example, in addition to summary statistics, the data points behind means, medians and variance measures should be available. If there are restrictions on publicly sharing data—e.g. participant privacy or use of data from a third party—those must be specified.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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4. Is the manuscript presented in an intelligible fashion and written in standard English?

PLOS ONE does not copyedit accepted manuscripts, so the language in submitted articles must be clear, correct, and unambiguous. Any typographical or grammatical errors should be corrected at revision, so please note any specific errors here.

Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: Yes

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5. Review Comments to the Author

Please use the space provided to explain your answers to the questions above. You may also include additional comments for the author, including concerns about dual publication, research ethics, or publication ethics. (Please upload your review as an attachment if it exceeds 20,000 characters)

Reviewer #1: Comments to authors:

- The current study is interesting; however, the authors should address the following comments to improve the quality of the manuscript:

- The manuscript should be revised for language editing and grammar mistakes by a native English speaker.

Title:

I think the work would benefit from the title that contains the main conclusion of the study (should be derived from the conclusion). Please modify the title.

Abstract:

- The abstract must illustrate the used methods and the most prevalent results (give more hints about methods and results). Besides, rephrase the main conclusion of your findings.

Introduction:

-Give a hint about different infections caused by E. coli and K. pneumonia, their virulence factors, and the mechanism of disease occurrence.

- The authors should illustrate the public health importance concerning the emergence of multidrug-resistant (MDR) bacterial pathogens that reflecting the necessity of new potent and safe antimicrobial agents. Several studies proved the widespread MDR- bacterial pathogens;

Authors could add the following paragraph:

Multidrug resistance has been increased all over the world that is considered a public health threat. Several recent investigations reported the emergence of multidrug-resistant bacterial pathogens from different origins including humans, poultry, cattle, and fish that increase the need for routine application of the antimicrobial susceptibility testing to detect the antibiotic of choice as well as the screening of the emerging MDR strains. You should cite the following valuable studies:

PMID: 33177849

1-PMID: 32497922

2-PMID:33061472

3-PMID: 33947875

4-PMID: 32472209

5-PMID: 32994450

6-PMID: 33188216

7-PMID: 32235800

-Rephrase the aim of the work to be clear and better sound.

Material and methods

- Bacterial isolation and identification:

•Explain in detail the methods of the bacterial isolation and identification (add specific references, the used media: add the company and country, the used biochemical reactions). The authors are advised to perform the conventional methods of bacterial isolation and identification as well as the Vitek-2. Besides, add more details about the Vitek identification system.

- Antimicrobial susceptibility testing:

•Illustrate the antimicrobial classes of the tested antimicrobial agents.

- PCR-based detection of the Extended-spectrum beta-lactamase genes (such as blaTEM, blaCTX-M, blaSHV, and bla-KPC…etc.) in the recovered isolated should be carried out for necessary.

- Add more details about the used program (SPSS) in the statistical analyses.

-Results:

-Illustrate the statistical analyses of the results presented in Tables 1-5.

-The subtitle: Bacteria isolates should be replaced by: Prevalence of E. coli and Klebsiella spp.

-Improve the presentation of your finding using illustrating figures.

-PCR-based detection of the Extended-spectrum beta-lactamase genes (such as blaTEM, blaCTX-M, blaSHV, and bla-KPC…etc.) in the recovered isolated should be carried out for necessary. Besides, the authors should add the PCR figures.

-Discussion:

- The authors are advised to illustrate the real impact of their findings without repetition of results.

-Remove all subtitles from the discussion section.

-Conclusion

- Should be rephrased to be sounded. A real conclusion should focus on the question or claim you articulated in your study, which resolution has been the main objective of your paper?

Reviewer #2: - The current study has a significant impact, but it needs a major revision:

- The manuscript should be revised for grammar mistakes.

- Please write the scientific names of all pathogens in italic form all over the manuscript.

-The title is broad, please modify the title.

- Add more details about the used methods and most prevalent results in the abstract.

-In the introduction: discuss the public health importance of the recovered bacterial pathogens and different infection caused by them.

-Improve the aim of work.

Methods:

-Discuss in details the methods of isolation and identification of the bacterial pathogens (by traditional methods and Vitek).

-Specific references should be added to all the used methods and techniques.

-Add the manufacturing company, city, and country for the used media and antimicrobial discs.

- The Extended spectrum beta-lactamase genes should be genetically detected using PCR.

-Add more details about the used software in the statistical analysis.

-Results:

- The Extended spectrum beta-lactamase genes should be genetically detected using PCR (support your findings with the PCR Figures).

-Where are the statistical analyses? (only used in Table 6).

-Discussion:

- Please improve. Delete all the subtitles.

-Please improve the main conclusion of the manuscript.

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6. PLOS authors have the option to publish the peer review history of their article (what does this mean?). If published, this will include your full peer review and any attached files.

If you choose “no”, your identity will remain anonymous but your review may still be made public.

Do you want your identity to be public for this peer review? For information about this choice, including consent withdrawal, please see our Privacy Policy.

Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: No

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High prevalence of  extended spectrum beta -lactamase producing Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae fecal carriage among children under five years in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

PONE-D-21-25316R1

Dear Dr. Tola,

We’re pleased to inform you that your manuscript has been judged scientifically suitable for publication and will be formally accepted for publication once it meets all outstanding technical requirements.

Within one week, you’ll receive an e-mail detailing the required amendments. When these have been addressed, you’ll receive a formal acceptance letter and your manuscript will be scheduled for publication.

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If your institution or institutions have a press office, please notify them about your upcoming paper to help maximize its impact. If they’ll be preparing press materials, please inform our press team as soon as possible -- no later than 48 hours after receiving the formal acceptance. Your manuscript will remain under strict press embargo until 2 pm Eastern Time on the date of publication. For more information, please contact onepress@plos.org.

Kind regards,

Abdelazeem Mohamed Algammal, Prof, Ph.D

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

Additional Editor Comments (optional):

Reviewers' comments:

Reviewer's Responses to Questions

Comments to the Author

1. If the authors have adequately addressed your comments raised in a previous round of review and you feel that this manuscript is now acceptable for publication, you may indicate that here to bypass the “Comments to the Author” section, enter your conflict of interest statement in the “Confidential to Editor” section, and submit your "Accept" recommendation.

Reviewer #1: All comments have been addressed

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2. Is the manuscript technically sound, and do the data support the conclusions?

The manuscript must describe a technically sound piece of scientific research with data that supports the conclusions. Experiments must have been conducted rigorously, with appropriate controls, replication, and sample sizes. The conclusions must be drawn appropriately based on the data presented.

Reviewer #1: Yes

**********

3. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously?

Reviewer #1: Yes

**********

4. Have the authors made all data underlying the findings in their manuscript fully available?

The PLOS Data policy requires authors to make all data underlying the findings described in their manuscript fully available without restriction, with rare exception (please refer to the Data Availability Statement in the manuscript PDF file). The data should be provided as part of the manuscript or its supporting information, or deposited to a public repository. For example, in addition to summary statistics, the data points behind means, medians and variance measures should be available. If there are restrictions on publicly sharing data—e.g. participant privacy or use of data from a third party—those must be specified.

Reviewer #1: Yes

**********

5. Is the manuscript presented in an intelligible fashion and written in standard English?

PLOS ONE does not copyedit accepted manuscripts, so the language in submitted articles must be clear, correct, and unambiguous. Any typographical or grammatical errors should be corrected at revision, so please note any specific errors here.

Reviewer #1: Yes

**********

6. Review Comments to the Author

Please use the space provided to explain your answers to the questions above. You may also include additional comments for the author, including concerns about dual publication, research ethics, or publication ethics. (Please upload your review as an attachment if it exceeds 20,000 characters)

Reviewer #1: The authors have carried out a significant changes to the manuscript. They have addressed all the suggested corrections and comments. Really, it's an interesting study that has a significant impact. Now, the manuscript could be accepted.

Congratulations.

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7. PLOS authors have the option to publish the peer review history of their article (what does this mean?). If published, this will include your full peer review and any attached files.

If you choose “no”, your identity will remain anonymous but your review may still be made public.

Do you want your identity to be public for this peer review? For information about this choice, including consent withdrawal, please see our Privacy Policy.

Reviewer #1: No