Antibiotic resistance pattern in Shigella species isolated from children with acute diarrhea in Tabriz city, Iran

Abstract

Aim: Shigella is one of the leading causes of acute diarrhea in children worldwide. Antibiotic resistance in this bacteriumhas increased due to the indiscriminate use of common antibiotics. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate theprevalence and pattern of antibiotic resistance in Shigella species isolated from children with acute diarrhea in Tabriz hospitals.Material and Method: In this descriptive cross-sectional study, 321 samples suspected of Shigella were collected from children’sdiarrhea stool samples and identified using standard microbiological and biochemical tests. Antibiotic resistance was alsodetermined using disk diffusion by the Kirby-Bauer method.Results: A total of 84 samples were positive for Shigella. Among them, S. flexneri species with 83.3% had the highest frequencyand S. boydii with 13.1%, S. sonnei with 2.4% and S. dysanteriae with 1.2% had the lowest frequency. The highest resistance wasrelated to the antibiotics cotrimoxazole (92.85%), tetracycline and ampicillin (67.86%) and the lowest resistance was related toimipenem antibiotics (2.38%) and ceftizoxime (9.52%).Conclusion: The present study showed that Shigella flexneri is the predominant species isolated from children with Shigellosis inhospitals in Tabriz city. Our results also indicate an increase in resistance to common antibiotics. Therefore, it is recommendedthat antimicrobial susceptibility testing be performed in the study area prior to antibiotic administration.