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Life sciences · Journal article
Eas Journal of Parasitology and Infectious Diseases · August 10, 2026
Early or partial results. Treat as a signal, not a conclusion.
This is a single-centre descriptive survey of enteric bacteria and antibiotic susceptibility in diarrhoeal samples from children under five in a Kenyan slum. It reports high prevalence of E. coli (45.1%), multidrug resistance (78.3% of isolates), and best in vitro sensitivity to chloramphenicol (87% sensitive), but lacks a comparator group and does not measure clinical outcomes or treatment efficacy.
Exploratory descriptive cross-sectional study. Children under five years old with diarrhoea attending Kiandutu Health Centre in Thika, Kiambu County, Kenya (slum population).. Intervention: Bacterial isolation and antibiotic susceptibility testing on diarrhoeal samples.. Kiandutu Health Centre in Thika, Kiambu County, Kenya..
Escherichia coli isolated in 45.1% of cases; 54.9% yielded no growth or no pathogen Multidrug resistance (≥3 antimicrobial categories) identified in 78.3% (36/46) of isolates All ESBL-positive isolates (23/23, 100%) showed MDR versus 56.5% (13/23) of ESBL-negative isolates
No clinical outcomes (treatment response, cure, mortality) measured; susceptibility is in vitro only.
The findings highlight high prevalence of multidrug-resistant enteric pathogens and ESBL-producing organisms in a resource-limited setting, suggesting that empiric first-line antimicrobials may have limited effectiveness. However, this is a single-centre descriptive study without clinical outcome data; local susceptibility patterns should inform empiric treatment guidelines, but the results cannot be generalised beyond this population without further validation.
Single-centre, descriptive cross-sectional study of bacterial isolation and antibiotic susceptibility in a slum population; no comparator, no hypothesis test, and no hard clinical outcomes reported.
As stated by the source record.
Quoted from the source exactly as published.
The findings highlight high prevalence of multidrug-resistant enteric pathogens and ESBL-producing organisms in a resource-limited setting, suggesting that empiric first-line antimicrobials may have limited effectiveness. However, this is a single-centre descriptive study without clinical outcome data; local susceptibility patterns should inform empiric treatment guidelines, but the results cannot be generalised beyond this population without further validation.
Graded across the dimensions that decide whether you should act, each from what the source actually supports. There is no single score, and where a dimension was not assessed it says so.
Background: Infectious diarrhea remains a significant global health concern, especially in less developed regions. The disease's impact on children under five years old is particularly severe, causing a high mortality rates in Low- and Middle-income Countries (LMICs). Objectives: The study aimed to investigate to characterize bacterial causative agents of diarrhea among children below 5 years attending Kiandutu Health care center in Thika, Kiambu County. It also sought to determine the antibiotic susceptibility testing of the isolated bacteria among children below 5 years attending Kiandutu Health care center in Thika, Kiambu County. Materials and Methods: The study utilized an exploratory descriptive approach because it will look at the many aspects of the disease incidence, including the onset of disease and treatment for the children attending Kiandutu Health Centre. Results: In characterizing the bacterial causative agents of diarrhea, Escherichia coli was isolated in 45.1%. In the remaining cases, in 54.9%, there was no growth or no pathogen isolated. In addition, MDR, which was defined as resistance to at least one agent in three different antimicrobial categories, was highly prevalent; it was identified in 78.3% (36/46) of the isolates. By stratification according to their ESBL status, all the ESBL-positive isolates showed MDR at 100% (23/23), compared to 56.5% (13/23) among the ESBL-negative isolates. The most sensitive antibiotic was chloramphenicol: 40 isolates were found to be sensitive and 6 resistants, giving a 13% resistance rate. Second to this was Amoxyclav, with 37 sensitive and 8 resistant. moderately effective antibiotic was ciprofloxacin, with 28 sensitive, 13 resistant, and 5 intermediates, yielding a 28.3% resistance rate. Conclusions and Recommendations: Resistance is ubiquitous, even among infections acquired within communities. Empiric antibiotic treatment is increasingly ineffective, with most first-line drugs failing against common pathoge
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