Surveying the prevalence and pattern of antimicrobial resistance of Yersinia enterocolitica among diarrheal children attending health care centers in Qom

Diarrhea is the most common causes of mortality, accounting for 15-20% among children. It is caused by numerous microorganisms including, Shigella, Salmonella, enteropathogenic E. coli, and Yersinia enterocolitica. Yersinia enteroclitica is a gram-negative, facultatively anaerobic coccobacillus belonging to enterobacteriaceae. It causes numerous human diseases, mostly gastroenteritis. A total of 800 diarrheal children aged less than 10 years entered this study. Suspected stool samples were cultured on both conventional enteric and cold-enriched media. Conventional enteric media included MacConkey agar, Cefsulodin-Irgasan-Novobiocin (CIN) agar, and Salmonella-Shigella Deoxycholate (2%) agar, while for cold-enriched media PBS (phosphate-buffered saline) (PH=7.2-7.8) was used. Other enteric pathogens including Salmonella, Shigella, and enteropathogenic E. coli were also isolated. Of 800 suspected stool samples, 14 Yersinia enterocolitica were isolated (1.8%). Other enteric pathogens were as follow: 18 Shigella (2.3%), 32 enteropathogenic E. coli (4%), and 13 Salmonella (1.6%). Y. enterocolitica isolates were completely sensitive (100%) to gentamycin, kanamycin, ciprofloxacin, cefixim, cefataxim, and chloramphenicol, however, they were partially resistant to tetracycline (7.1%) and cotrimoxazole-nalidixic acid (14.3%). Yersinia enterocolitica isolates were completely resistant to ampicillin, penicillin, cephalotin, and erythromycin. Suspected diarrheal children should be checked for Yersinia enterocolitica using cold-enriched environment, while antibiogram studies are strongly recommended for positive isolates.