BackgroundSalmonella and Shigella remain the major contributors to acute enteric infections and diarrhoea. Hence, the objective of this study was to isolate and determine the antimicrobial susceptibility pattern of Shigella and Salmonella species from children with acute diarrhoea in Mekelle Hospital and Semen Health Center.MethodsA cross sectional study was conducted among 260 children with acute diarrhoea from November 2011 to March 2012 in Mekelle, Ethiopia. Stool specimen was collected from all study participants who presented with acute diarrhoea. Microscopy, culture and confirmatory identification were done by the pattern of biochemical reactions using a standard bacterial identification system (API 20E, BioMerieux, Marcy-l'Etoile, France) and polyvalent (Poly O and H) antiseras for Salmonella species and Vi for S.typhi. Isolated colonies were assessed for antimicrobial susceptibility profile using disk diffusion method. Data was entered and analyzed using SPSS version 16.0 software.ResultsOut of the 260 study participants, 145(55.8%) were males while 115(44.2%) were females. The majority of the patients (44.2%) were of children under five years old. A total of 120 enteropathogens were isolated. The frequency of isolation was 19(7.3%), 18(6.9%) and 83(31.9%) for Salmonella species, Shigella species and intestinal parasites respectively. Most of the Shigella isolates were resistant to ampicillin (88.9%), Tetracycline (77.8), cotrimoxazole (55.6%) and chloramphenicol (55.6%). Among the Salmonella isolates, the highest resistance was observed to ampicillin (89.5%), Tetracycline (89.5%), chloramphenicol (78.9%) and cotrimoxazole (57.9%). Multi-drug resistance was noted in 19(100%) and 16(88.9%) of Salmonella and Shigella species respectively.ConclusionsShigella and Salmonella are still challenging pathogens in children < 5 years of age. High antibiotic resistance was observed among both isolates to ampicillin, tetracycline, chloramphenicol and cotrimoxazole.

Background: Point-of-care diagnostic tests (POCTs) are increasingly used in both developing and developed countries. They allow same day testing and treatment at remote locations where no laboratory support is available.

vaccines has been a major barrier for other infectious agents including fungi, partly due to of our lack of knowledge about the mechanisms that underpin protective immunity.Fungal diseases are epidemiological hallmarks of distinct settings of at risk patients; not only in terms of their underlying condition but in the spectrum of diseases they develop [1,2]. Although fungi are responsible for pulmonary manifestations and cutaneous lesions in apparently immunocompetent individuals, their impact is most relevant in patients with severe immune compromised, in which they can cause severe, life-threatening forms of infection. As an increasing number of immunocompromised individuals resulting from intensive chemotherapy regimens, bone marrow or solid organ transplantation, and autoimmune diseases have been witnessed in the last decades, so has the incidence of fungal diseases [1,2]. Regardless of hundreds of thousands of fungal species, only a few cause disease in humans. The most common fungi that infect humans are Candida spp., Aspergillus fumigatus, Cryptococcus neoformans, Pneumocystis jiroveci (carinii) and the thermally dimorphic fungi e.g. Histoplasma capsulatum, Blastomyces dermatitidis, Coccidioides posadasii, Penicillium marneffei and Paracoccidioides brasiliensis [3].Despite recent additions to our antifungal drug armamentarium, success rates for many mycoses remain unacceptably low and antifungal drug therapy is often limited by toxicity, resistance and high cost. To circumvent these difficulties, alternative approaches to prevention and treatment are being developed, including vaccines and passive immunotherapy.

Background: In several countries with a high incidence of tuberculosis (TB), direct sputum smear microscopy remains the most cost effective tool for diagnosing patients with infectious tuberculosis and for monitoring their progress on treatment. The objective of the current study was to assess the quality of laboratory service in AFB microscopy of Tigray Region. Randomly selected health facilities were participated in the external quality assessment. Data was entered and analyzed using SPSS version 20.

Background: Infectious diseases have been major cause of morbidity and mortality all over the globe. The ability of bacterial pathogens to adapt and overcoming to treat by different antibiotics has been challenging in patient management. The antimicrobial resistance rates of Pseudomonas aeruginosa are known to fluctuate extensively in different settings. Active inspection of trends in antibiotic resistance of Pseudomonas aeruginosa is essential for the selection of suitable antimicrobial agent for empirical therapy. The objective of our systematic review was to determine the national antimicrobial resistance profile of Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolated from patients with wound infection in Ethiopia. Methods: We searched the Pub Med database in July and August 2018. We used the term ‘antimicrobial resistance, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, wound and Ethiopia’ to find articles published from 2011 to 2018 September. Only articles in English language were included. Full-text articles were incorporated if they reported the percentage of antibiotic resistance among clinical isolates of pathogenic bacteria collected from patients in any of the regions of Ethiopia. For overlapping studies reporting on the same clinical isolates, same study period and place, only the study with the largest sample size was included.Results: From the 173 Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates 99.5%, 95% of the isolates were resistant to ampicilin and Amoxicillin Clavulanic Acid respectively. From the isolates 28.8%, 29.7% and 39.6% of them were resistant to Gentamicine, ciprofloxacin and Ceftazidime respectively. Most of the isolates have limited susceptibility to ampicillin, Amoxicillin Clavulanic Acid, tetracycline, cotromoxazole, chloramphenicol and ceftriaxone.Conclusion: Antimicrobial resistance is likely to become a challenge in Ethiopia and may be exacerbated by overuse of antibiotics, the lack of oversight of antibiotic prescription, and the lack of relevant local data on antimicrobial resistance. Therefore, existing antimicrobial stewardship programmes should be strengthened or, where they are not yet in place, they should be developed and implemented in all regional referral hospitals in response to these challenges and Health research institutes. Antimicrobial surveillance also needs to be strengthened.