Surveying the prevalence and pattern of antimicrobial resistance of Yersinia enterocolitica among diarrheal children attending health care centers in Qom

Background: Diarrhea is the most common causes of mortality, accounting for 15-20% among children. It is caused by numerous microorganisms including, Shigella, Salmonella, enteropathogenic E. coli, and Yersinia enterocolitica. Yersinia enteroclitica is a gram-negative, facultatively anaerobic coccobacillus belonging to enterobacteriaceae. It causes numerous human diseases, mostly gastroenteritis. Materials and methods: A total of 800 diarrheal children aged less than 10 years entered this study. Suspected stool samples were cultured on both conventional enteric and cold-enriched media. Conventional enteric media included MacConkey agar, Cefsulodin-Irgasan-Novobiocin (CIN) agar, and Salmonella-Shigella Deoxycholate (2%) agar, while for cold-enriched media PBS (phosphate-buffered saline) (PH=7.2-7.8) was used. Other enteric pathogens including Salmonella, Shigella, and enteropathogenic E. coli were also isolated. Results: Of 800 suspected stool samples, 14 Yersinia enterocolitica were isolated (1.8%). Other enteric pathogens were as follow: 18 Shigella (2.3%), 32 enteropathogenic E. coli (4%), and 13 Salmonella (1.6%). Y. enterocolitica isolates were completely sensitive (100%) to gentamycin, kanamycin, ciprofloxacin, cefixim, cefataxim, and chloramphenicol, however, they were partially resistant to tetracycline (7.1%) and cotrimoxazole-nalidixic acid (14.3%). Yersinia enterocolitica isolates were completely resistant to ampicillin, penicillin, cephalotin, and erythromycin. Conclusion: Suspected diarrheal children should be checked for Yersinia enterocolitica using cold-enriched environment, while antibiogram studies are strongly recommended for positive isolates.