Epidemiological study on Jordanian patients suffering from diarrhoea

Abstract

Stool specimens from 1400 Diarrhoeal patients from the Jordanian population were examined for bacterial pathogens and Rotavirus during a four- year period (1997-2000). Pathogenic bacteria were identified in 343 patients (24.5%), most often from children. Salmonella spp. was the most frequent isolated organism in 10.7% of the patient's cultures, followed by enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (EPEC) in 3.9%, Shigella spp. in 0.8% and Campylobacter spp. in 0.9%. Vibrio spp. was not identified in the stools tested. Resistance to ampicillin was observed in 42.2% of the Salmonella, 77.0% of the Shigella, and 31.0% of the EPEC isolates. Cotrimoxazole resistance was observed in 34.0% of the Shigella and 13.0% of the EPEC isolates and 77.0% of Campylobacter isolates. Rotavirus was identified in 373 samples (26.6%) of the patients