outbreak of acute gastroenteritis due to Aeromonas sobria in Benghazi, Libyan Arab Jamahiriya

We report an outbreak of acute diarrhoea due to Aeromonas sobria in Benghazi which occurred during a 1-month period in 1997. Of 69 patients admitted with acute gastroenteritis, 28 were positive for A. sobria based on the production of gas from glucose, the production of acetoin, hydrogen sulfide and lysine decarboxylase and on aesculin hydrolysis and fermentation of arabinose and salicin. The strains were sensitive to chloramphenicol, co-trimoxazole, tetracycline and gentamicin but resistant to ampicillin and carbenicillin. We were unable to trace the source of the infection

Chronic suppurative otitis media in Benghazi; a prospective study

A random selection of 120 cases of Chronic Suppurative Otitis Media [CSOM] were investigated for bacterial and fungal isolates at the Department of Microbiology and Parasitology, Benghazi. The specimens were obtained from the out - patient department of Otolaryngology of <<28th March>> Polyclinic. The incidence of CSOM in Benghazi was found to be 23.7% A total of 145 bacterial isolates were identified and their susceptibility to various antibiotics was tested. Staphylococcus aureus was the predominant pathogen isolated [42.5%], followed by Pseudomonas aeruginosa [21.16%] and Proteus species [18.33%]. Fungi were isolated from 7.5% of cases, but no growth was observed in 10% of specimens collected. The majority of the bacterial isolates showed multiple drug resistance. Gentamycin still formed the drug of choice in treating the causative strains of either Gram positive or Gram negative bacteria, while tetracycline was found to be the last effective