Decline in epidemic of multidrug resistant Salmonella typhi is not associated with increased incidence of antibiotic-susceptible strain in Bangladesh.
Since 1987, multidrug resistant (MDR) strains of Salmonella Typhi, resistant simultaneously to ampicillin, chloramphenicol and trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, have caused epidemics of severe typhoid fever in Asia and Africa. A retrospective analysis of blood culture results (1989-96) in a Diarrhoea Treatment Centre in Dhaka, Bangladesh detected MDR strains in 0.3% (8 of 2793) of samples in 1990. The isolation rate peaked to 3.2% (240 of 7501) in 1994 (P < 0.01) and decreased to 1.8% (165 of 9348) in 1995 and further to 1.0% (82 of 8587) in 1996 (P < 0.01 compared to 1994) indicating the emergence and decline of MDR typhoid epidemic. Ten of 15 MDR strains tested had a 176 kb conjugative R plasmid that mediates resistance to ampicillin, chloramphenicol and trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole to Escherichia coli K12. Unlike MDR strains, the isolation rate (approximately 3.3%) of susceptible S. Typhi remained remarkably unchanged during the study. The significant decrease in isolation of MDR strains suggests that cheaper and effective first-line antibiotics may re-emerge as drugs of choice for the treatment of typhoid fever in Bangladesh.
Rahman
M
M
Laboratory Sciences Division, ICDDRB: Centre for Health and Population Research, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Ahmad
A
A
Shoma
S
S
D000328:Adult; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D001459:Bangladesh; D002648:Child; D024901:Drug Resistance, Multiple, Bacterial; D006801:Humans; D012485:Salmonella typhi / Q000187:drug effects*
D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents