Antimicrobial Susceptibility Patterns of Salmonella Typhi From Ki-gali, Rwanda

Background: Salmonellosis is a major health problem, especially in developing countries like Rwanda. Salmonella typhi infects only human and human transmission occur through feaco-oral route. Moreover, species are becoming resistant to the commonly used antibiotics. Objective: The aim of the present study is to know antimicrobial susceptibility patterns with special reference to multidrug resistance Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi and reduced susceptibility to nalidixic acid. Materials: A total 69 S.typhi isolated of King Faisal hospital, Kigali, Rwanda from stool and blood specimens were included in the study. Antimicrobial susceptibility was done by using Kirby-Bauer disc diffusion method. Results: There was decreased susceptibility was observed in Chloramphenicol, Ampicillin, Amoxycillin/Calvvlanic acid, Tetracycline, Cotrimoxazole and Nalidixic acid. These were sig-nificant increase in the multidrug resistant salmonella typhi (MRST) from 9.1% to 25% re-spectively between 2007 and 2008. All the isolates were 100% sensitive to Ceftriaxone, Levofloxacin and Ciprofloxacin. Conclusion: Typhoid fever has been endemic in Kigali. Decreased susceptibility towards nalidixic is obsevered which gives us alarm for treatment failure towards fluoroquinolones. The antibiotic sensitivity pattern is changing and resistant cases are emerging due to inap-propriate use of antibiotics.