EMERGING CIPROFLOXACIN AND MULTI DRUG RESISTANT SALMONELLA SPECIES ISOLATED FROM PATIENTS WITH ENTERIC FEVER IN CHHATTISGARH

Increasing number of patients suffering from enteric fever are being diagnosed in and around Bastar District of Chhattisgarh in last 5 years.Over 500 samples from febrile patients were cultured during May 2012 to January 2013 in a tertiary care hospital in Jagdalpur, Chhattisgarh.The aim of this study was to evaluate the ciprofloxacin and other antibiotics susceptibility patterns of Salmonella spp from blood samples of suspected enteric fever patients.Antimicrobial susceptibility tests were performed against commonly used antimicrobials by disc diffusion method and Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) of ciprofloxacin was determined by agar dilution method.Altogether 62 Salmonella Typhi and 21 Salmonella Paratyphi A were isolated from blood samples.All isolates were sensitive to ceftriaxone and ofloxacin whereas 9 isolates were resistant to ciprofloxacin.Nalidixic acid resistant isolates were significantly associated with raised MIC values for ciprofloxacin, suggesting that resistance to nalidixic acid is a reliable indicator of decreased ciprofloxacin susceptibility where disc diffusion test showed susceptible.