Prevalence of Shigella Species and Their Antimicrobial Resistance Patterns at Amirkola Children s Hospital,North of Iran

Objective: In the few cases of acute childhood diarrhea that require antimicrobial therapy, thecorrect choice of the drug depends on detailed previous knowledge of local strains and pattern ofantimicrobial resistance. Shigellosis is one of the most important examples in this group ofintestinal infections. In order to establish such parameters in our city this study was carried outto determine the prevalence and pattern of antimicrobial resistance of Shigella species amongpatients with acute diarrhea admitted to the Amirkola children s hospital, North of Iran.Material Methods: The study included all patients with acute diarrhea, 6 months to 12 yearsof age, who were admitted to the Amirkola children s hospital during March 2001 to March2004. Incidence, phenotypic characteristics and antimicrobial resistance patterns of Shigellastrains, isolated from hospitalized children with acute diarrhea, were studiedFindings: We received 260 positive cultures for Shigella out of 1850 stool samples during 3years (14.05%). Shigella specimens presented a high resistance rate to trimethoprimsulfamethoxazole(73.84%) and ampicillin (73.84%), and low resistance rate to Ciprofluxacine(2.69%) and cefotaxim (2.69%). S. flexneri (70%) was most frequently isolated, followed byS. Sonnei (30 %). No cases of S. boydii and S. dysenteriae were found.Conclusion: Our results provide data on antimicrobial resistance to choose a proper antibioticfor Shigellosis in our community. According to our findings cefotaxime for pediatric patientsand quinolone derivatives for adult patients are the proper drug choices. Systematic monitoringis needed to identify changes in prevalence and antimicrobial resistance pattern.