AUTHOR
Winnie C. Mutai, Anne W. T. Muigai, Peter Waiyaki and Samuel Kariuki.
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE:
Typhoid fever remains a public health concern in developing countries especially among the poor who live in informal settlements devoid of proper sanitation and clean water supply. In addition antimicrobial resistance poses a major challenge in management of the disease. This study assessed the antimicrobial susceptibility patterns of Salmonella enterica serotype Typhi (S. Typhi) isolated from typhoid fever cases (2004–2007) in Kenya.
RESULTS:
Sixteen percent (23/144) of the isolates were susceptible to all the antibiotics tested while 68% were resistant to three or more of the 11 antibiotics tested. A large proportion of S. Typhi isolates were MDR and also showed reduced susceptibility to ciprofloxacin. Fluoroquinolone resistance is emerging and this may pose a challenge in treatment of typhoid in future. There is need for routine surveillance to monitor this phenotype in clinical settings.
Click here to view the article, published in BMC Microbiology.
