Prevalence and Drug Resistance Patterns of Salmonella Isolated from Out Patients Attending Gimbi General Hospital, West Ethiopia.

Abstract

Salmonella is one of the most commonly reported causes of foodborne diseases and is a serious public health problem worldwide mainly in developing countries. Thus, this study was designed to assess the prevalence and drug resistance pattern of Salmonella among outpatients attending Gimbi General Hospital. A cross-sectional study was conducted from October to November 2024. Data on socio demographic characteristics of the study participants and risk factors for infection with Salmonella were collected using pre-tested structured questionnaire. Stool specimen was collected from all study participants who presented with diarrhoea and transported to the laboratory for bacteriological analysis. Identification of Salmonella was done by biochemical tests using standard bacteriological methods. The drug resistance patterns of the isolates were evaluated using Kirby–Bauer disk diffusion technique on Mueller–Hinton agar. In this study, the prevalence of Salmonella among study participants attending Gimbi General Hospital was 7.2%. Risk factors like hand washing habit with soap before eating, hand washing practice after toilet, experience of eating food kept for more than a day, drinking raw milk, washing of fruits and vegetables before consumption and practice of using common knife for cutting raw flesh and other food were significantly associated with Salmonella infection. The isolated Salmonella were resistant to amoxicillin (100%), Tetracycline (100%) followed by Cotrimoxazole (63.6%).On the other hand; the isolates were sensitive to Ciprofloxacin (100%), Ceftriaxone (90.9%) and Chloramphenicol (63.6%). A total of 5 multiple drug resistance patterns were observed among the Salmonella isolates. About 54.6% of the isolates showed MDR to two drugs, 18.2% to three drugs, and 9.1% to four drugs. At the end, this study revealed that, Salmonellosis is still a public health problem. Therefore, there is a need for frequent monitory and evaluation system to minimize the burden posed by Salmonellosis. Also, ongoing surveillance is needed to monitor changes in susceptibility patterns and to guide empirical treatment choices and combat the rise of drug resistant pathogens.