TY - JOUR AU - Onyango, David AU - Machioni, F. AU - Kakai, R. AU - Waindi, E. N. PY - 2008/04/01 Y2 - 2024/03/28 TI - Multidrug resistance of Salmonella enterica serovars Typhi and Typhimurium isolated from clinical samples at two rural hospitals in Western Kenya JF - The Journal of Infection in Developing Countries JA - J Infect Dev Ctries VL - 2 IS - 02 SE - Original Articles DO - 10.3855/jidc.279 UR - https://jidc.org/index.php/journal/article/view/19738333 SP - 106-111 AB - Background: The threat to human health posed by antibiotic resistance is of growing concern. Many commensals and pathogenic organisms have developed resistance to well established and newer antibiotics. This is a cross-sectional study within two hospital settings to determine in vitro antibiotic susceptibilities of <i>Salmonella</i> species isolated in blood, cerebral spinal fluid, pus and stool collected from in- and out-patients. The inclusion criteria was non restrictive to in- and out-patient but preference to severe diarrhea cases with negligible changes to previous treatment regimen was observed. The study was carried out from February 2004 - June 2005. Fifty-three diarrhea patients within the hospital who were chosen by convenient sampling and consented to participate in the study were considered.Methodology: Either blood or pus was collected using vacutainer tubes and syringe, swabs respectively, and cerebral spinal fluid by lumbar puncture from patients who had fever (temp ≥ 38°C) and diarrhea. Stool samples were also colle cted and all specimens analyzed for the presence of <i>Salmonella</i> by routine microbiological procedures. The isolates were subjected to antibiotic susceptibility testing using disc diffusion technique.Results: In St. Elizabeth Mukumu Mission Hospital, <i>Salmonella enterica</i> serovar Typhi was most common (56.6%, n=33), followed by <i>S. typhimurium</i> (34%, n=18), while in Maseno Mission Hospital only <i>S. typhimurium</i> was isolated. Whereas <i>S. typhi</i> was more commonly isolated in male adults and female children (P = 0.9), <i>S. typhimurium</i> was more common in female and male children (P=0.1). All the isolates were sensitive to ciprofloxacin. However, <i>S. typhi</i> was resistant to streptomycin, ampicillin, chloramphenical and cotrimoxazole; <i>S. typhimurium</i> to tetracycline, sulfamethoxazole, cotrimoxazole, ampicillin, chloramphenical and streptomycin.Conclusions: <i>S. typhi</i> displayed a high resistance pattern to most antibiotic screened than <i>S. typhimurium</i>. ER -