Potential enteric bacterial pathogens in 60
HIV-positive
patients with chronic diarrhoea in
rural communities of the Limpopo Province,
South Africa, were identified using standard microbiological
methods. The
Kirby-Bauer disk-diffusion method was employed to determine
antibiograms of isolated
bacteria. Results revealed that diarrhoeagenic bacterial agents were isolated from 48 (80%) of the 60
HIV-positive
patients with diarrhoea. Forty-four (73.3%) and 16 (26.7%) of the 60
patients were
female and
male respectively in the age range of 17-55 years with a mean of 34 years. Bacterial pathogens isolated comprised
Campylobacter species (20.0%),
Plesiomonas shigelloides (16.6%),
Aeromonas species (13.3%), and
Escherichia coli,
Shigella and
Salmonella species (10.0% each). No attempts were made to isolate
parasites,
fungi, or
viruses.
Antibiotic susceptibility profiles revealed resistance of the isolates to
ampicillin,
cephalothin,
chloramphenicol,
erythromycin, and
streptomycin. However, all (100%) of P. shigelloides and
Salmonella species were sensitive to
nalidixic acid and
ciprofloxacin. Most isolates were susceptible to
nalidixic acid,
ciprofloxacin, and
gentamicin, indicating the usefulness of these
drugs, although
antibiograms may not always correlate with clinical usefulness.