Study of antibiotic susceptibility of bacterial strains isolated from clinical material of children with shigellosis

Annotation Shigellosis are among the important acute intestinal infections. Up to 165 million cases are registered worldwide each year, with 600,000 cases of death. In 2020, there were 565 cases of shigellosis registered in the Georgian epidemiological surveillance system, Most among the infected were the children. Total 0-1y 1-4y 5-14y 15-19y 20-29y 30-59y 60y > 565 9 170 308 43 12 13 10 The spread of bacterial infections is a global problem. Antibiotics are most often used to treat them. The discovery of antibiotics survived many lives, however, their inappropriate and frequent usage led to the development of antibiotic resistance by bacteria. The aim of the study was to evaluate the antibiotic susceptibility of bacterial strains of Shigella sonnei isolated from clinical material (feces) of children with shigellosis. The antibiotic susceptibility of Shigella sonnei species isolated from the clinical material of 30 children was studied using the disc-diffusion method. 17 antibiotics were selected for the study. Two of them were combined preparations, where antibiotics is in combination with a broad-spectrum beta-lactamase inhibitor. I studied and interpreted susceptibility to antimicrobial drugs according to the European standard EUCAST. The results of the study show that 100% of the isolated bacterial strains are resitent to the following six antibiotics: Ampicilin; Cefotaxime; Cefepime; Ceftriaxone; Cefuroxime; Tetracycline, which means that their use in the treatment of shigellosis will be ineffective. In contrast, usage of antibiotics with idetified high degree of sensitivity is recomended. For example, there was a 100% sensitivity to the antibiotics Meropenem and Chloramphenicol. The sensitivity to the following antibiotics: Imipenem; Ciprofloxacin; Aztreonam; Nalidixic acid; Amikacin; Gentamicin, Azithromycin were various, with a relatively high sensitivity to Imipenem; Nalidixic acid and Gentamicin. The sensitivity of studed bacterial strains to the combined preparations - Amoxicilin + cl.acid, and to Piperacilin-tazobactam, were high indicating that broad-spectrum beta-lactamases are important factors of antibiotic resistance of the studied Shigella sonnei bacterial strains. The results of the study is important as it will complement data about antibiotic resistant and beta-lactamase producing Shigella sonnei strains, and it would help to develop strategies to solve the problem.