| Popis: |
Serological characterization and antimicrobial susceptibility patterns of clinical isolates of Salmonella were carried out for a period of 8-months to study the most frequently encountered serovars in salmonellosis and their antimicrobial susceptibility patterns. Two hundred and forty samples from both stool and blood specimens were collected from out patients attending General Hospital, Funtua, Katsina state of Nigeria. The samples were collected from patients diagnosed by clinicians of having either pyrexia, gastroenteritis or both. Samples were cultured, isolates identified and antibiotic susceptibility test was performed using standard procedures. The total number of 29(12.1%) of the 240 samples collected were identified as Salmonella strains. Out of the 29 isolates, 19(65.5%) were responsible for typhoidal salmonellosis while 10(34.5%) were responsible for non-typhoidal salmonellosis. Of the 29 cases of salmonellosis, 24(82.8%) were from children and 5(17.2.7%) from adults. However, the age of the patients have no significant relationship in both the typhoidal and non-typhoidal diseases, with their p values= 0.109, 0.784 > 0.05 respectively. S. typhi 16(55.2%) was the most frequently encountered, followed by S. enteritidis 7(24.1%) and 3(10.3%) each for S. paratyphi A and S. typhimurium. Of the total isolates, 26(89.7%) were found to be resistant to Ampicillin, 6(20.7%) resistant to Cefotaxime, 24(82.8%) resistant to Chloramphenicol, 9(31%) resistant to Co-trimoxazole and 2(6.9%) resistant to Nalidixic acid. However, resistance to Ofloxacin and Ciprofloxacin by the isolates were not observed. There was no statistically significant difference (p>0.05) in antimicrobial resistance patterns exhibited among typhoidal and non-typhoidal Salmonellae. Therefore, Fluoroquinolones are recommended as the drug of choice for both typhoidal and non-typhoidal salmonellosis, although, caution should be taken by the clinicians in prescribing them in order to avoid resistance to these drugs. |
