SUSCEPTIBILITY OF SALMONELLA SPECIES ISOLATED FROM PATIENTS’ STOOL TO COMMONLY USED ANTIBIOTICS
Oguamanam Okezie Enwere* and Kelechi Ihechinyerem Osuagwu
ABSTRACT
Background: Salmonella infection among humans is an important public health challenge. While commonly available antibiotics are regularly used for its treatment, a changing antibiotics susceptibility pattern has been observed over the years. We assessed antibiotic susceptibility to salmonella isolated from patients’ stool. Methodology: Patients had a stool sample collected on clinical assessment of typhoid fever. Stools were then tested for presence of salmonella species in addition to other pathogenic parasites. Isolated cases of salmonella species was then subjected to antibiotic sensitivity using the disc diffusion method. Results: A total number of 105 samples were analyzed and 60 (57.1%) were positive for salmonella species. Salmonella was least resistant to streptomycin (18.3%). The fluoroquinolones, ofloxacin and ciprofloxacin had 33.3% and 35% resistance respectively. Choramphenicol also had 35% resistance, while pefloxacin had the most resistance of the fluoroquinolones at 41.7%. Nalidixic acid had the highest resistance (76.6%). Conclusion: The fluoroquinolones remain the first line drug treatment for salmonella infection. However, we observed a rising level of resistance level compared to previous years. Streptomycin had the least resistance but available only as injection.
Keywords: susceptibility, salmonella, typhi, antibiotics, patients’ stool, common.
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