Antibiotic Susceptibility And Genotypes Of Escherichia Coli Isolated From Hiv Sero-positive Adults At Mbagathi District Hospital, Nairobi.

Persons living with HIV may succumb to acquired immunodefiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS), which renders them susceptible to opportunistic infections. Several antibiotics are recommended for prophylaxis and treatment of the infections. These usage of antibiotics has lead to the development of multi drug resistant strains of Escherichia coli isolated from the gut of persons living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA). Such resistance is of great concern as the organisms may become infectious and also serve as an important reservoir for resistant genes which can be transferred to potential pathogens. Available antibiotics would be rendered ineffective thus plugging the country into a possible post antibiotic resistance era. This study was carried out to determine the antibiotic susceptibility and genotypes among fecal E. coli isolates from PLWHA who were reporting at Mbagathi District hospital. E. coli were obtained by culturing stool samples from the study population on MacConkey agar and the isolates biochemically identified. The isolates were tested for antimicrobial susceptibility to commonly used antimicrobials using Kirby Bauer disk diffusion method and the E-test. Out of the 216 (81.81%) isolates from PLWHA and taking antibiotics (HIV + A + ), 209 (96.76%), 198 (91.67%) and 188 (87.04%) isolates were resistant to trimethoprim-sulphamethazole, tetracycline and ampicillin respectively. The results also indicated that isolates from this group were highly resistant to cefuroxime and augmentin (51.39% and 58.33%). Thirty nine (83.33%) isolates of the 48 (18%) from PLWHA not taking antibiotics (HIV + A - ) were resistant to trimethoprim-sulphamethazole.