Antimicrobial resistance within serogroups of <em>Shigellae</em> isolates in the city of Quito Ecuador

The pathotype Shigellae includes bacillus from the species S. flexneri, S. sonnei, S. boydii and S. dysenteriae which are causatives of the disease known as bacillary dysentery or shigellosis. The pathogenicity of the genus is characterized by the presence of high antibiotic resistance. The aim of this study was to identify the species and antimicrobial susceptibility in clinical isolates of Shigellae. We analyzed 79 isolates obtained from Zurita &amp; Zurita Laboratorios and Vozandes Hospital in the city of Quito. Three species were obtained by serotyping, using polyclonal antisera: S. flexneri (n=50; 63,29%), S. sonnei (n=23; 29,11%), and S. boydii (n=6; 7,59%). The antimicrobial susceptibility was analyzed using the Kirby Bauer method and recommendations from the &ldquo;Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute&rdquo; (CLSI). Most of the isolates showed resistance to tetracycline (n=76; 96,20%), ampicillin (n=75; 94,94%), trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole (n=68; 86,08%) and chloramphenicol (n=67; 84,81%). The results showed the incidence of multidrug resistance to antibiotics commonly used for treating shigellosis, and the presence of three species of Shigellae.