article · Microorganisms
Research in Lusaka and Ndola, Zambia, examined antimicrobial resistance patterns in Escherichia coli isolates from children under five years of age. Rectal swabs taken from 565 children with diarrhoea and 455 healthy children yielded 1020 bacterial isolates for antibiotic susceptibility testing. Almost all isolates, amounting to 96.9 percent, showed resistance to at least one tested agent. Testing identified 700 multi-drug resistant isolates, 136 possibly extensively-drug resistant isolates, and nine pan-drug resistant isolates. Furthermore, 40 percent of the isolates showed resistance to imipenem, occurring mostly in samples from healthy children. Survey data linked the varying levels of multi-drug resistance to complex socio-demographic patterns, antibiotic stewardship habits, and guardians' knowledge regarding antimicrobial resistance. The evidence highlights severe paediatric resistance levels and the need for risk-based local containment strategies.
Widespread antibiotic resistance complicates the treatment of common childhood diarrhoeal infections and increases public health risks. The presence of high resistance rates, including resistance to key treatments like imipenem in healthy children, demonstrates community-level circulation of difficult-to-treat bacteria. Understanding these patterns enables healthcare authorities to design better-targeted stewardship programmes and community interventions to curb treatment failures.
The abstract does not indicate a direct commercial application pathway. The findings represent early-stage epidemiological research that could inform public health agencies, diagnostic developers, and clinical organisations seeking to design localised diagnostic panels or tailored antibiotic stewardship guidelines. Any commercial or clinical deployment remains distant, as the study provides baseline surveillance data rather than a tested product, therapy, or proprietary method.
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Increased antimicrobial resistance (AMR) has been reported for pathogenic and commensal <i>Escherichia coli (E. coli)</i>, hampering the treatment, and increasing the burden of infectious diarrhoeal diseases in children in developing countries. This study focused on exploring the occurrence, patterns, and possible drivers of AMR <i>E. coli</i> isolated from children under-five years in Zambia. A hospital-based cross-sectional study was conducted in the Lusaka and Ndola districts. Rectal swabs were collected from 565 and 455 diarrhoeic and healthy children, respectively, from which 1020 <i>E. coli</i> were cultured and subjected to antibiotic susceptibility testing. Nearly all <i>E. coli</i> (96.9%) were resistant to at least one antimicrobial agent tested. Further, 700 isolates were Multi-Drug Resistant, 136 were possibly Extensively-Drug Resistant and nine were Pan-Drug-Resistant. Forty percent of the isolates were imipenem-resistant, mostly from healthy children. A questionnaire survey documented a complex pattern of associations between and within the subgroups of the levels of MDR and socio-demographic characteristics, antibiotic stewardship, and guardians' knowledge of AMR. This study has revealed the severity of AMR in children and the need for a community-specific-risk-based approach to implementing measures to curb the problem.
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DOI: 10.3390/microorganisms10081684
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