Abstract:
Background:
Multiple drug resistance has become a major threat to the treatment of cholera.
Recent studies in Kenya have described the epidemiology, especially the risk factors, of cholera; however, there is little information on the phenotypic and drug susceptibility patterns of Vibrio cholerae (V. cholerae) in outbreaks that in the recent past have occurred in western Kenya.
Aim:
To characterise and determine the antibiotics’ susceptibility profiling of toxigenic
V. cholerae isolates from Kisumu County.
Setting:
The project was conducted in Kisumu County, Kenya.
Methods:
A total of 119 V. cholerae O1, biotype El Tor, isolates collected during 2017 cholera
outbreak in Kisumu County were used for this study. The samples were cultured on
thiosulphate-citrate-bile salts sucrose (TCBS) agar and biochemical tests were carried out
using standard procedures. Susceptibility tests were conducted by using various conventional antibiotics against standard procedures.
Results:
Of the 119 isolates, 101 were confirmed to be V. cholerae belonging to serotypes Inaba
and Ogawa, with Inaba being the predominant serotype (73.95%). The isolates were susceptible to ciprofloxacin (100%), ofloxacin (100%), gentamycin (100%), doxycycline (99%), ceftriaxone (99%) and streptomycin (96.04%) antimicrobials, and resistant to erythromycin (53.47%), amoxicillin (64.4%), nalidixic acid (83.2%) and ampicillin (89.11%), with high resistance to cotrimoxazole (99%) and tetracycline (97%).
Conclusion: Vibrio cholerae was resistant to multiple antibiotics, including those commonly
used in the management of cholera. Taken together, there is a need to carry out regular
surveillance on antimicrobial drug resistance during outbreaks.
Keywords: Vibrio cholerae; antimicrobial susceptibility; Kisumu; tetracycline;cotrimoxazole; Kenya.
