Susceptibility to mecillinam and other antibiotics and serogroups of enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli from children in Addis Ababa.

The in-vitro susceptibility of 64 strains of enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) was determined for eight antimicrobial agents. The strains were of 27 different O-serogroups of which 078 was the most common. All strains were susceptible to mecillinam, cefoxitin, gentamicin, and trimethoprim-sulphamethoxazole. Two strains were resistant to ampicillin, 15 to doxycycline, 5 to cephalothin, and 13 to chloramphenicol. No difference was found in the antibiotic susceptibility of ETEC strains producing only heat-labile enterotoxin compared with those producing both heat-labile and heat-stable enterotoxin.