Prevalence and antibiotic susceptibility of Salmonella species isolated from patients attending selected hospitals in Zaria

Salmonellosis is a major public health problem in developing countries and is associated with high morbidities and mortalities. The study aimed at isolating, characterizing and determining the antibiotic susceptibility of Salmonella species from stool samples of patients attending three hospitals in Zaria. A total of 219 stool samples were collected from suspected enteric fever patients. The samples were cultured and isolates characterized and antibiotic susceptibility pattern determined. Out of the 219 samples, 14 yielded positive for Salmonella accounting for a prevalence of 6.4%. With respect to gender and age, male and patients belonging to age group 0-9 were found to have the highest Salmonella infection with 64.3% and 43% respectively. The antibiotic susceptibility testing showed good susceptibility of Salmonella isolates to cefotaxime, ciprofloxacin, gentamicin and chloramphenicol, however the isolates demonstrated poor susceptibility to tetracycline, amoxicillin and cotrimoxazole. In addition, 64.3% of the Salmonella isolates were multidrug resistant. Antibiotic susceptibility test should be conducted for Salmonella isolates periodically to monitor development of resistance.