A note on antibiotic resistance in Escherichia coli isolated from children with diarrhoea in the Sudan.

This study investigates antibiotic resistance in gut commensals obtained from children presenting with diarrhoea in Khartoum and Juba, Sudan. Fifty-one isolates of Escherichia coli were obtained from the faeces of 34 children. Sensitivity to six antibiotics generally available in Sudan were determined for all isolates using a disc diffusion method. Twenty-five (74%) of the children had isolates resistant to at least four of the antibiotics, and seven (20%) had isolates resistant to all six antibiotics. A greater number of resistant isolates was obtained from inpatients than outpatients but were significantly different for only two antibiotics. There was no significant difference in the prevalence of resistant isolates obtained from children below 1 year of age. The results suggest that multiply resistant Escherichia coli may be acquired from the environment, and may play a role in the epidemiology of multiply resistant enteric pathogens.