A Study on Etiologic Agents and Drug Resistance Pattern of Entropathogens Isolates from Stool Specimens of Children Less Than Five Years Old Admitted in an Iranian Hospital

Abstract

Background and Objective: Acute gastroenteritis is an important health public issue especially in developing countries. The aim of this study was to determine the enteropathogens causing acute diarrheal disease in children less than five years old admitted to Milad Hospital of Tehran during a 24-month period from April 2009 to December, 2010 Methods: Stool samples were collected from patients with diarrhea who attended to Milad Hospital. All specimens were cultured on routine microbiological media for isolation of entropathogens. Biochemical tests were performed to determine of salmonella spp, shigella spp. and entropathogenic E. coli as a common entropathogens. Susceptibility testing was performed according to CLSI guidelines. Results Of the 2207 stool samples, 153 (6.93%) were culture positive for one of the enteropathogens bacteria.. Enteropathogenic E. coli (EPEC), Shigella spp and Salmonell spp accounted for 82/153 (53.59%), 26/153 (16.99%) and 45/153 (29.41%) of all isolates respectively. Shigella sonnei with 22 isolates being the most prevalent serotype among shigella isolates. Nalidixic acid was the most effective antibiotic against Shigella spp. Chloramphenicol with the rate of 18.29% resistance was the most effective antibiotic against EPEC spp. Resistance rate of Salmonella spp to ampicillin, nalidixic acid and Co-trimoxazole was 4.44%, 35.55% and 22.225% respectively. Conclusion: During of our two years study in total 153 pathogens were isolated from stool cultures. Shigella sonnei was the most prevalent serotype among shigella spp Resistance to commonly used antibiotic was prevalent among all isolates.