Antimicrobial Resistance and Phenotypic Detection of Extended Spectrum Beta-Lactamase in Escherichia coli from Children with Cases of Diarrhea in Nasarawa-South, Nasarawa State, Nigeria

Aims: This study investigates the antimicrobial resistance and phenotypic detection of extended-spectrum beta-lactamase in Escherichia coli from children with cases of diarrhea in Nasarawa-south, Nasarawa State, Nigeria. Place and Duration of Study: Nasarawa South, Nigeria, in 2023. Methodology: A total of 251 non-duplicate E. coli isolates were collected from Dalhatu Araf Specialist Hospital Lafia (DASHL), General Hospitals Awe (GHA), General Hospital Doma (GHD), General Hospital Obi (GHO) and General Hospital Keana (GHK); and confirmed using standard microbiological methods. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing and phenotypic detection of ESBL production in the isolates were carried out using disc diffusion methods.  Results: The isolates were highly resistant (74.0-100.0%) to ampicillin, amoxicillin/clavulanic acid and sulfamethoxazole/trimethoprim, ceftriaxone and streptomycin in all the selected hospitals, but less resistance (0-7.8%) to Cefotaxime and Ceftazidime. All the antibiotic resistance isolates were multiple antibiotic resistance (MAR) with MAR indices above 0.2; and more than 90.0% in all hospitals were multidrug resistance (MDR) isolates. The occurrence of ESBL producing isolates was highest in DASHL (7.8%), GHK and GHD (2.0%) but none of the isolates from GHA were ESBL producers. Conclusion: Extended-spectrum third generation cephalosporins, cefotaxime and ceftazidime were very effective against the isolates, even though most of the isolates were multidrug resistant. The molecular diversity of the ESBL-producing isolates is being investigated.