Investigating the Prevalence of <i>Shigella</i> Species and Their Antibiotic Resistance Pattern in Children With Acute Diarrhea Referred to Selected Hospitals in Tehran, Iran

Abstract

<strong>Introduction</strong>: Shigellosis is a major health problem, especially in developing countries and in children under 5 years of age. The prevalence of <em>Shigella </em>species in a region can be considered as an indicator for hygiene level of that region. Due to the lack of an efficient vaccine, antibiotic therapy is the main strategy to combat the disease. In this study, the prevalence of the <em>Shigella </em>species and their antibiotic resistant pattern has been investigated.<br /> <strong>Materials and Methods: </strong>A total of 300 diarrheal stool samples were collected from 4 different hospitals in Tehran during a period of 6 months June to November 2016. Bacterial identification and species discrimination was performed using biochemical and serotyping tests. Antibiotic resistance patterns of isolates were obtained using Bauer-Kirby method.<br /> <strong>Results: </strong>8.7% of all diarrheal cases were caused by <em>Shigella </em>species (5% by <em>Shigella sonnei </em>and 3.7% by <em>Shigella flexneri</em>). Antibiogram test revealed that the isolates were more sensitive or intermediate to ciprofloxacin (92.3%), while most of the isolates were resistant to tetracycline.<br /> <strong>Conclusions: </strong>The prevalence of <em>Shigella </em>species has changed in Tehran. Since antibiotics are the treatment of choice to combat these pathogens, also, because of the emergence of the antibiotic resistance <em>Shigella </em>strains, there is a need for regularly updated regional antibiotic sensitivity patterns of the pathogen to guide therapy.