Prevalence of shigella serotypes and their antimicrobial sensitivity pattern in asmara, Eritrea,North East of Africa.

The prevalence of Shigella serotypes and their sensitivity pattern was studied from January 2000 to December 2002 for a period of 3 years. Of the 2420 pediatric diarrhoeal stools screened, 84 Shigella organisms were isolated giving an isolation rate of 3.5%. S.flexneri was the predominant serotype (64%) followed by S.dysenteriae type 1(24%). S.boydii was not isolated during the study period. High resistance was observed against ampicillin, chloramphenicol, cotrimaxozole and tetracycline. 6 % isolates of S.flexneri were resistant to Nalidixic acid. The study recorded the prevalence of S.dysenteriae type 1 and S.flexneri in dysentery stools of this geographic area. Keywords: Shigella dysentery, serotypes, antimicrobial resistance. Journal of Biomedical Investigation Vol. 3 (2) 2005: pp. 1-