Antibiogram of Diarrhoeagenic Escherichia coli Patients under Five Years Attending Selected Hospitals in Kaduna State, Nigeria

Abstract

Escherichia coli infections and poor nutritional status have implications on the growth and development of children under five years, physically, mentally and health wise with consequences such as diarrhoea, stunting, wasting, underweight and often times leading to death, depending on their severity. This study evaluated the antibiogram of Escherichia coli O157 and Verocytotoxigenic Escherichia coli (VTEC)and the nutritional status of diarrhoeic children under five years in Kaduna State, Nigeria, using Conventional isolation methods, latex agglutination tests, VTEC-ELISA tests, Chi-square (SPSS Version 19) and WHO Antro (Version 3.2.2). Purposive sampling was used to select 350 children presenting with diarrhoea in six government hospitals within the three senatorial zones of Kaduna State. The results obtained revealed that 76(21.7%) of the 350 stool samples were positive for E. coli and 28(36.8%) were positive for E. coli O157:H7serotype and 1(1.3%) verocytotoxigenic E. coli (VTEC) serotype. High susceptibility to ciprofloxacin, chloramphenicol and high resistance to sulphamethoxazole, cefotaxime, amoxicillin, gentamicin and tetracycline by the isolates were observed. The study concluded that antibiotics have not been very effective in the treatment of E. coli-related diarrhoea, with VTEC now emerging in this part of the world, making it a serious public health issue. The study therefore recommends the implementation of programmes geared towards good hygiene, good nutrition and good health.