Antimicrobial Susceptibility Pattern of Klebsiella pneumonia and Escherichia coli Isolated from Stool Samples of Patients in Two Tertiary Hospitals in Rivers State, Nigeria

Reduced susceptibility of antibiotics against Enterobacterial strains have emerged as an important public health problem worldwide. Infections caused by Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumonia can affect severely ill patients, and their colonization of human gut, endangers population at large in communities, and in hospitals. This research is aimed at determining the susceptibility pattern of Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumonia from stool of patients in two tertiary hospitals in Rivers State, Nigeria. A total of 114 stool samples were collected from patients. Stool samples were collected in sterile biological specimen bottles and were sent to the laboratory immediately after collection. Stool samples were inoculated by streaking on Eosin methylene blue and MacConkey agar plates. Isolates were characterized using standard microbiological methods and were stored and used for further tests. The result showed that nineteen isolates of E. coli were 100% resistant to Cefuroxime and Augmentin, while 78.9%, 68.4% and 42.1% were resistant to cefixime, Ceftazidime and Nitrofurantoin, respectively. The result for the susceptibility pattern of the Klebsiella isolates showed 100% resistance to cefuroxime and Augmentin. Resistance to ceftazidime, cefixime and nitrofurantoin were observed to be 70%, 60% and 45%, respectively. Isolates of E. coli and Klebsiella were highly susceptible to Meropenem and ofloxacin. The isolates of E. coli and Klebsiella showed multi-drug resistance to the different antibiotics. Although the meropenem, ofloxacin and ciprofloxacin antibiotics showed high level of sensitivity to these isolates, there were still some level of resistance recorded.