Isolation of Shigella sonnei bacteria from stools of children under five years

Aims:To identify the prevalence of Shigella species in stool of children from Mosul city.Methodology and results: One hundred fifty stool samples were taken from children who had diarrhea between October 2021 and March 2022.The patients' ages ranged from one week to five years.These samples were collected from Al Hamdanyah General Hospital, Al Salam Hospital and Ibn Sina Hospital in Mosul city.The samples from patients visiting the hospital were kept in a sterile container and transferred to the laboratory for culture and diagnosis.The information for each patient was recorded in a form that included several pieces of information, including the patient's name, gender, age, sample number and date, in a special report.All patient samples were cultured in Shigella broth first and the developing bacteria were then grown on xylose lysine deoxycholate (XLD) and Salmonella Shigella agar (SSA) media.The results of the stool samples revealed that 15 samples, 10% did not demonstrate bacterial growth; this finding is attributed to several factors, including diarrhea brought on by antibiotics, viral causes, other non-infectious causes of diarrhea, or elements that have been ruled out, such as anaerobic bacteria; and despite the use of the most up-to-date techniques currently available, some enteritis cases still have unknown causes; the remaining 135 stool samples.Conclusion, significance and impact of study: Bacteria were diagnosed using chemical tests such as indole, oxidase and urease.API 20E system and the VITEK 2 compact system were also used for diagnosis.