Prevalence and Antimicrobial Susceptibility of Salmonella Species Associated with Childhood Acute Gastroenteritis in Federal Capital Territory Abuja, Nigeria

Aim: The aim of this study was to isolate and characterize Salmonella strains associated with childhood acute gastroenteritis in Nigeria; as well as to evaluate the resistant patterns of the strains to the commonly used antimicrobials agents.
Study Design: Children ≤ 5years having diarrhoea characterized by the occurrence of three or more loose or watery stool or at least one bloody loose stool in a 24-hour period were enrolled in the study.
Methods: The study was conducted between July and December 2008. Samples were pre-enriched in buffered peptone water followed by selective enrichment using selenite cysteine and Rapaport-Vassilidis broths. Isolation and identification was made by inoculating the selectively enriched sample on to Xylose Lysine Deoxycholate agar followed by confirmation of presumptive colonies using different biochemical tests. The CLSI, 2006 method was used for antimicrobial susceptibility testing.
Results: In all the 400 tested samples, 9 (2.3%) were positive for Salmonella isolates. Results showed that the children aged 0-5 months had the highest Salmonella infection rate of 5 (4.1%), followed by 13-24 months 4 (3.5%), while Salmonella infection was not present in the age groups of 25-36 months, 37-48 months, and 49-60 months.
The highest (3.2%) Salmonella infection rate was seen among children on solid food followed by those on breast milk (2.5%), while those on a combination of breast milk and formula had no detectable level of Salmonella infection.
The study recorded various degrees of resistance to four antimicrobials as observed in amoxicillin, cephalexin, and cefuroxime (55.6%) each, while resistance was observed in 77.8% of the isolates against amoxycillin-clavulanic acid. All isolates were susceptible to ciprofloxacin, nalidixic acid, and Ceftriaxone.
Conclusion: The study reports Salmonella species as a potential pathogen isolated from stool samples of children with acute gastroenteritis. The overall resistance level of the isolates to amoxycillin-clavulanic was highest followed by resistance to amoxicillin, cephalexin, cefuroxime giving a cause for concern.