Parveen Anjum, Ayaz H Qureshi, Muhammad Shaukat Parvez, Muhammad Zahoor Ul Haq, Mamoona Hamid.
Increasing prevalence of Multidrug Resistant Salmonella Enterica serotype paratyphi-A in patients with enteric fever.
Pak J Med Res Jan ;43(2):56-9.

Background and objectives: Salmonella enterica serotype paratyphi-A has been reported less frequently as a causative agent of enteric fever. Reports on the antimicrobial susceptibility of this pathogen are few and varied. An unusual high occurance of Salmonella paratyphi-A was noted in our study carried out at Pathology Department, Army Medical College, Rawalpindi.. materials and methods: Blood cultures of patients suspected to have enteric fever were processed by conventional methods. Antimicrobial susceptibility was tested by Kirby-Bauer disc diffusion method and minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) to ciprofloxacin, ofloxacin and nalidixic acid was determined by E-test (AB-Biodisc, Sweden). Results were interpreted according to NCCLS (National Committee for Control Laboratory Standard) recommendations. Statistical analysis: Statistical analysis was done by SPSS 10.0 for Windows (Statistical Package for Social Sciences). Results: 59 (59%) out of 100 typhoid salmonellae were Salmonella enterica serotype paratyphi-A and all were sensitive to ciprofloxacin, ofloxacin and nalidixic acid except one isolate which showed resistance to nalidixic acid both on disc diffusion and MIC determination. 37 isolates (62.7%) were resistant to first line antibiotics (ampicillin, chloramphenicol and co-trimoxazole) on disc diffusion testing. Interpretation & conclusion: A high occurrance of Salmonella enterica serotype paratyphi-A found in the present study indicated the emergence of this rare pathogen of enteric fever in local population. Development of multidrug resistant Salmonella enterica serotype paratyphi A indicates the need for continued surveillance and monitoring of antimicrobial susceptibility of these isolates.

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