Occurrence of extended spectrum beta (b)-lactamases in multi-drug resistant Escherichia coli isolated from a clinical setting in Jimma University Specialized Hospital, Jimma, southwest Ethiopia.

INTRODUCTION: Resistance to antibiotics has grave consequences leading to treatment failure and increased health care costs. This public health risk has become a global problem with some countries like Ethiopia seriously affected. Members of the family enterobacteriaceae, including E. coli, are among the most important human pathogens accounting for the majority of bacterial strains isolated from clinical patient samples. Moreover, there is insufficient data regarding Extended-spectrum Beta-lactamase (ESBL) prevalence among Escherichia coli strains from Ethiopia. Thus, the objective was to determine the production of ESBL among clinical isolates and assess the in vitro susceptibility of the E. coli to the routinely used selected antibiotics.

METHODS: We collected a total of 359 clinical specimens (56 urine, 116 sputum, 72 stool and 15 wound swabs) from in- and outpatients at Jimma University Specialised Hospital, Jimma zone, southwest Ethiopia.

RESULTS: E. coli was isolated from 67 (18.66%) clinical specimens, of which 24 (36%) isolates were ESBL producers. The resistance pattern to the tested antibiotics was: penicillin (97%), amoxacillin and ampicillin (86.6% each), tetracycline (73.1%), amoxacillin-clavulanate (70.1%), co-trimoxazole (56.7%), chloramphenicol (35.8%), ciprofloxacine (20.9%), norfloxacine (16.4%), cefotaxime (9%), ceftazidime (6%), gentamicin (3%). All the isolates tested showed resistance to two or more drugs, and were considered to be multi-drug resistant.

CONCLUSION: A higher rate (46%) of ESBL production and multi-drug resistance was seen among isolates from inpatients as compared to outpatients (33%) at the hospital.