Department of Medical Microbiology, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education & Research, Chandigarh, India.
Indian J Med Res. 2017 Jul;146(Supplement):S53-S58. doi: 10.4103/ijmr.IJMR_378_15.
BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVES: Aeromonas species have been reported to cause various illnesses in humans such as wound infections, septicaemia, peritonitis and pneumonia. Their role in causation of cholera-like illness is also being increasingly recognized. This retrospective study was done to know the presence of Aeromonas as a cause of acute diarrhoea in a tertiary care hospital and to find the common species of Aeromonas causing diarrhoea and their antibiotic susceptibility patterns.
Fifty isolates of Aeromonas were obtained over a period of 15 yr from 2000 to 2014 from patients of suspected acute gastroenteritis resembling cholera. Biotyping was done for 35 of these isolates available in culture collection, based on a panel of 13 biochemical reactions. Antibiogram was put up for all of these isolates by disk diffusion methods and interpreted according to the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute guidelines.
Of the 50 patients of Aeromonas-related acute gastroenteritis, 13 (26%) had typical features of cholera with rice water stools and severe dehydration. Eight patients (16%) had dysentery-like picture. One patient died of severe dehydration and septicaemia. The most common species were found to be Aeromonas caviae (34%) followed by Aeromonas veronii biovar veronii (29%), Aeromonas veronii biovar sobria (26%) and Aeromonas hydrophila (9%). All tested isolates were uniformly susceptible to cefepime, amikacin, azithromycin and meropenem; 14 per cent were susceptible to amoxicillin, 32 per cent to nalidixic acid, 60 per cent to co-trimoxazole, 54 per cent to ciprofloxacin, 60 per cent to ofloxacin, 74 per cent to chloramphenicol, 76 per cent to ceftriaxone, 74 per cent to cefotaxime, 88 per cent to gentamicin and 86 per cent to furoxone.
INTERPRETATION & CONCLUSIONS: Aeromonas is an important, often neglected pathogen capable of causing a variety of gastrointestinal tract symptoms such as acute diarrhoea and dysentery and may even mimic cholera. It is, therefore, pertinent to recognize this pathogen as an important agent in the causation of severe diarrhoea.
气单胞菌已被报道可引起人类多种疾病，如伤口感染、败血症、腹膜炎和肺炎。它们在引起霍乱样疾病中的作用也越来越受到关注。本回顾性研究旨在了解气单胞菌是否是一家三级保健医院急性腹泻的致病原因，并发现引起腹泻的气单胞菌常见种及其抗生素药敏模式。
在 2000 年至 2014 年的 15 年期间，从疑似霍乱样急性胃肠炎患者中获得了 50 株气单胞菌分离株。对 35 株可在培养物中获得的分离株进行生物分型，基于一组 13 种生化反应。采用纸片扩散法对所有分离株进行药敏试验，并根据临床和实验室标准协会指南进行解释。
在 50 例气单胞菌相关急性胃肠炎患者中，有 13 例（26%）具有典型霍乱特征，表现为米泔水样便和严重脱水。8 例（16%）表现为痢疾样表现。1 例患者死于严重脱水和败血症。最常见的菌种是豚鼠气单胞菌（34%），其次是维罗纳气单胞菌生物型维罗纳（29%）、维罗纳气单胞菌生物型温和（26%）和嗜水气单胞菌（9%）。所有测试分离株对头孢吡肟、阿米卡星、阿奇霉素和美罗培南均表现出均匀的敏感性；14%对阿莫西林敏感，32%对萘啶酸敏感，60%对复方磺胺甲噁唑敏感，54%对环丙沙星敏感，60%对氧氟沙星敏感，74%对氯霉素敏感，76%对头孢曲松敏感，74%对头孢噻肟敏感，88%对庆大霉素敏感，86%对呋喃妥因敏感。
气单胞菌是一种重要的、常被忽视的病原体，可引起多种胃肠道症状，如急性腹泻和痢疾，甚至可能模拟霍乱。因此，将这种病原体视为严重腹泻的重要病因是恰当的。
