Antimicrobial Resistance for Enteric Pathogens Isolated from Acute Gastroenteritis Patients in Gaza strip, Palestine

Abstract

The antibiotic resistance of enteropathogenic bacteria has profound clinical implications. Hence, this research was in part an attempt for isolation of enteropathogenic bacteria and determines their antimicrobial susceptibility patterns. Samples were collected from acute gastroenteritis patients inGazastrip,Palestine. This method of investigation is a matched case-control study. A total of 132 stool samples were collected from Palestinian patients with acute diarrhea (gastroenteritis). Among 132 diarrheal patients, 12 (9.1%) of enteropathogenic bacteria were isolated. Salmonella, Campylobacter coli/jejuni, and Aeromonas hydrophilia were isolated in equal numbers from samples 3/12 (25% each), Shigella 2/12 (16.7%), Yersinia enterocolytica 1/12 (8.3%). The two Shigella spp. are Shigella boydii. The antimicrobial profile of twelve isolated enteropathogenic bacteria showed high resistance rates for Campylobacter coli/jejuni (52.4%), followed by Aeromonas hydrophilia (49.2%), Yersinia enterocolytica (42.9%), Shigella (26.2%) and Salmonella spp. (22.2%). Children younger than 5 years old are more susceptible to infectious diarrhea; in addition, diarrhea is more frequent in crowded houses with low room's number, and among peoples living in houses rearing poultry, and pigeons. Findings from this study demonstrated that Campylobacter coli/jejuni, Aeromonas hydrophilia, and Yersinia enterocolytica, which are not screened during routine examinations of stool samples in Palestinian health laboratories in Gaza strip, were significant enteropathogens in the studied patients. Therefore, we recommend improving of laboratories inGaza strip to increase their ability to isolate all types of enteropathogenic bacteria especially those, which have not isolated routinely in these laboratories, which require special techniques.