Prevalence and antibiotic susceptibility patterns in microorganisms isolated from the diarrheal children in Ilam, Iran

Diarrhea is one of the remarkable hygiene problems in the world. Despite reducing the diarrheal mortality rates for 3 million children per year through Oral Rehydration Therapy (ORT), mortality reduction among patients is still substantial. Objectives: The aim of this study is, detection of bacterial and parasitic agents isolated from diarrheal children’s stool and their antibiotic susceptibility profiles. This study also aims to introduce appropriate solutions for reducing of diarrhea causative agents. Material and Methods: This study was performed in less than ten years old children with clinical symptoms of gastroenteritis. Direct examination, routine biochemical and microbiological tests and antibiotic susceptibility tests were performed on each sample. Results: Out of 2568 samples, 602 (19.6 %) cases had been contaminated by pathogenic bacteria or parasites. 234 patients (38.8 %) were male and 368 patients (61.2 %) were female. 43.6% children were contaminated to Entamoeba histolytica. Males were infected more than females. 93.3% of E.coli and 91.6% of Shigella dysenteriae were sensitive to Ciprofloxacin. Conclusions: The results of this study demonstrate that some cases of gastroenteritis were caused by non-bacterial and non-parasitic agents. Therefore, parasitic contaminations were more prevalent than bacterial infections. Enteropathogenic E. coli was the most isolated bacteria which ciprofloxacin could be regarded as the most effective antibiotic.