PREVALENCE OF SEROVARS AND ANTIMICROBIAL SUSCEPTIBILITY IN CLINICAL ISOLATES OF Salmonella Spp.

The emergence of antibiotic-resistant foodborne pathogens has raised the concern of the public as these pathogens are more virulent, causing an increase in the mortality rate of infected patients The aim of this study was to assess the genotypic diversity associated with antimicrobial susceptibili ty of Salmonella serovars isolated from patients presenting with diarrhea at University Hospital Centre "Mother Teresa" Tirana over the period 2009-2017. Stool collection, processing and isolation of strains were performed according to the technical working protocol that is applied in laboratory. A total of 290 salmonella strains were isolated over the study period. 4.9% were Salmonella group B, 5.3% were Salmonella enterica ss. Arizonae, 8.1% Salmonella group D, 10.2% were Salmonella group D1 and 66.3% were not serotyped and were classified as Salmonella spp. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing showed that 29.4 % of isolates were susceptible to all classes of antibiotics. According to serovars the resistance rate varied from 0-13.9%. 82 isolates were tested for the presence of ESBL. The prevalence of ESBL producing isolates was 48.8% (95%CI 37.59 - 60.09) (40/ 82).