First-line antibiotic treatment of Salmonella Typhi isolated from Enteric Fever Children in Iraq

The rise of antibiotic-resistant Salmonella enterica subsp enterica worsened the high rate of occurrence of typhoid fever, particularly in developing nations with inadequate hygienic conditions, medical infrastructure and financial levels. Blood samples were taken from 110 children (36 male and 74 female) who attended Al-Elwya Teaching Hospital, Baghdad, Iraq. The isolates were processed and identified based on culturing in MacConkey agar and xylose lysine deoxycholate agar and the diagnosis was confirmed using the Vitek 2 compact system. The antibiotics susceptibility pattern was determined using the disc diffusion method. Out of 110 samples 79 (71.8%) isolates were identified as S. Typhi. Among the tested antibiotics, ceftazidime showed the highest resistance against S. Typhi (84.8%) followed by cefepime (75.9%). The results also revealed that 21 (26.5%) were shown to be MDR and 9 (11.3%) were XDR. Our study concluded that the highest incidence of infection occurs in children aged 4-6 years. We have also found that antibiotics, like meropenem and piperacillin-tazobactam are now effective against S. Typhi. There is a potential possibility of repurposing these antibiotics to treat typhoid in Baghdad.