Abstract:
E. coli, which is one of the main causes of both nosocomial and community acquired infections, particularly
diarrhoea in children and has been variously reported to develop or acquire resistance to a variety of antibiotics.
Seventy (70) isolates of Escherichia coli from stool of diarrhoeic children below the age of five (5) attending two
hospitals and a primary healthcare centre in Zaria were screened for their susceptibility to a panel of nine commonly
used antibiotics. Sixteen isolates (22.9%) were found to be resistant to all the antibiotics. Majority of the isolates
were resistant to the inhibitory effects of the penicillins (amoxicillin, ampicillin), tetracycline, sulphonamide/
diaminopyridines and some cephalosporins, but susceptible to the fluoroquinolones (ciprofloxacin) and gentamicin.
A high proportion of the isolates were multi-drug resistant, with seventeen phenotypic patterns. This raises serious
issues as regards effective management of infection that could be caused by these organisms. The multiple antibiotic
resistance indices (MARI) for the MAR isolates was found to be high, between 0.3 to 1.0 suggesting that the isolates
originated from an environment where antibiotics were often used and the continued usefulness of these antibiotics
in the treatment of E. coli infections in children need to be reviewed.
