Abstract

PREVALENCE AND ANTIBIOTIC RESISTANCE OF DIARRHEAGENIC ESCHERICHIA COLI ISOLATED FROM ACUTE GASTROENTERITIS PATIENTS IN COIMBATORE, INDIA

D. Jegadeeshkumar and S. Rajan

Abstract

The present study assessed the antibiotic susceptibility patterns of diarrheal isolates of E.coli. A total of 144 isolates were confirmed with selective media and biochemical test. The isolates were analyzed for antimicrobial susceptibility to 16 types of antibiotics using disc diffusion method. Among them, Tetracycline (92.3%) showed the highest resistance and Chloramphenical (20.5%) showed lowest resistance to E. coli isolates. Presently 3% of isolates were resistance to all 16 antibiotics, 39% of where resistance to 12 antibiotics. Totally 19 types of resistance patterns were observed from 9 groups of antibiotics, among them highest resistance were observed from Tetracycline and followed by Carbapenems. This study revealed that the highest antibiotic resistance was observed in not only betalactam antibiotics, which was highest in non betalactam antibiotics also. The high antimicrobial resistance observed in our study raises a broad discussion on the indiscriminate or improper use of antimicrobials, besides the risks of self-medication.

Keywords: Acute gastroenteritis, E.coli, Antibiotic resistance; Diarrheagenic pathogens, betalactam antibiotics.