Prevalence of multidrug resistant enteropathogenic bacteria causing diarrhea in Kibera community in Nairobi, Kenya

Abstract

Diarrhea cases are on the increase in Kibera slum resulting in use of enormous amounts of antimicrobial agents and as a result, some pathogens develop resistance. This study was conducted in order to characterize some of the Gram-negative bacteria incriminated in the cause of diarrhea and their antimicrobial sensitivity. A total of 150 stools from children and adults collected from Kibera Community Health Centre were cultured in selective media and biochemical tests were done on suspected colonies. Serotyping using specific antisera was used to confirm species identity. Direct antimicrobial sensitivity tests using the Kirby-Bauer method were performed on ampicillin, tetracycline, kanamycin, chloramphenicol, streptomycin, gentamicin, ciprofloxacin and norfloxacin. The enteropathogenic bacteria identified in Kibera were pathogenic Escherichia coli with prevalence rate of 14%, while Shigella had a rate of 12%, Salmonella 8%, Yersinia enterocolitica 4% and no Vibrio cholerae. Most of the isolates showed multidrug resistance to two or more antibiotics. Norfloxacin and ciprofloxacin were the most sensitive drugs with 100% efficacy whereas ampicillin and gentamicin were the most resistant drugs having 84.2%and 68.4% resistance respectively. These results shows that even the antibiotics considered to be potent in treating diarrhoea are gradually becoming ineffective and should be closely monitored.

Keywords: multi-drug resistance, diarrhea and enterics

Journal of Tropical Microbiology and Biotechnology Vol. 2(1) 2006: 24-30