THE VALUE OF DIRECT ANTIBIOTIC SENSITIVITY TESTING ON ACUTE DYSENTRY STOOL CULTURES, A NOVEL LABORATORY APPROACH
1Oronsaye F.E., 2Osa Iyoha and 3E.O. Yussuf
Department of Medical Lab. Science, University of Benin, Benin, Nigeria.
2,3Medical Microbiology Department University of Benin Teaching Hospital, Benin city Nigeria.
ABSTRACT
Acute bacillary dysentery is a common health problem in the tropical countries. The routine method of microscopy culture and sensitivity (MC/S) for specimens sent to the medical microbiology laboratory, takes a minimum of 72hours for provisional diagnosis to be made and in developing countries where there is lack of modern technology for rapid diagnosis. Patients with acutebacillary dysentery suffer for longer period and this could be fatal. The purpose of this study therefore, was to determine the possibility of reducing the time spent on MC/S on stools from patients suffering from acute bacillary dysentery. A direct sensitivity test was carried out on carefully selected portion of blood and mucus stained stool specimens from 100 patients with acute bacillary dysentery sixty of the patients were in- patients in paediatric wards while forty of them were adults from out patients department, whose specimens were collected in the laboratory., fifty of the specimens yielded a heavy pure growth of Shigellaflexneri type 2,while the remaining fifty yielded a heavy pure growth of Shigellaflexneri type3 All the strains were sensitive to gentamici, neomycin and kanamycin, but resistant to ampicillin, erythromycine, chlorampheniocol and tetracycline. Al the patients were treated with 500mg/l of neomycine, mixed with mixed kaolin TD/S/7. Those on admission were discharge after three days, to continue their treatment at home. Direct sensitivity test can speed up treatment for patients with acute bacillary dysentery.
Keywords: Acute dysentery, Shigellaflexnerri, stool specimens, direct sensitivity testing.