ISOLATION, CHARACTERIZATION, AND ANTIBIOGRAM OF DIARRHOEAGENIC BACTERIA FROM PAEDIATRIC PATIENTS IN SELECTED HEALTHCARE FACILITIES OF ENUGU STATE NIGERIA

Diarrhoea in children is a serious condition and if not carefully handled, may lead to fatalities. In this work, we isolated, characterized, and determined the antibiotic sensitivity pattern of E. coli, Shigella spp, and Salmonella spp recovered from faecal samples from children’s wards in selected clinics in the Enugu State of Nigeria. All the samples were transported to the laboratory using Ice Park. The isolates were further sub-cultured onto Salmonella-Shigella Agar and eosin-methylene Blue Agar to obtain pure and viable colonies and stored on a Nutrient agar slant until further analysis. Each isolate was Gram-stained, and various biochemical tests were conducted. The isolates were subjected to antibiotic susceptibility tests using the disc diffusion method. The antibiotic disc used include ceftriaxone 30 µg, gentamicin 10µg, ciprofloxacin 5 µg, erythromycin 5µg, ertapenem 10 µg, vancomycin 30 µg, cefoxitin 30 µg, amoxicillin/clavulanic acid 30 µg and Tetracycline 30µg. Ninety-eight (98) shigella isolates were recovered from the 468 patients admitted during the study, giving a prevalence of 20.9%; one hundred and eighty-three (183) 39.1% Salmonella spp and one hundred and eighty seven (187) 40.0% for E. coli spp. The antibiotics sensitivity testing showed that the isolates tested were resistant to most antibiotics except ciprofloxacin and gentamicin. Ciprofloxacin and gentamicin produced excellent antibacterial activity against most test organisms. The result of this study underscores the importance of antibiotic sensitivity testing as a guide to precise antimicrobial therapy.