Antimicrobial resistance of Enteropathogenic Escherichia coli isolated from diarrheal children in Zanjan during 2012-13

Enteropathogenic E. coli (EPEC) is the predominant cause of infant diarrhea worldwide and represents a major endemic health threat to children living in developing countries. The increase in antibiotic resistance in pathogenic bacteria، especially in children، is considered as one of the world''s health problems. The aim of this study was to evaluate the antibiotic resistance and multi-drug resistance in EPEC which isolated from children with diarrhea admitted to the hospital in Zanjan. In this cross sectional study، 450 stool specimens were collected from children with diarrhea <5 years of age who referred to hospitals in Zanjan during 2012-2013. After culture and verifying of isolates by biochemical tests، Antimicrobial susceptibility was performed using the disk diffusion method (Bauer-Kirby) as recommended by CLSI to 13 antibiotics. Using PCR with specific primer pair''s for eaeA gene، we detected EPEC in diarrheal and control samples. From 450 children with diarrhea in this study، 140 (31. 1%) isolates of E. coli were identified. The frequency of EPEC isolated were 13. 6% (19 isolates). The most prevalent resistance profile were showed for erythromycin (100%)، amoxicillin and co-amoxiclav 89/47%، respectively. Imipenem was found as an effective antibiotic with susceptibility rate of 84. 21%. Also 90. 6% of isolates were resistant to three or more agents and considered as Multidrug resistance (MDR). The results showed increase in profile for antibiotic resistance. Therefore it suggest that application of antibiogram test is necessary before antibiotic prescription for successful treatment and prevention of diarrhea caused by multi-drug resistance agents.