Prevalence of Antibiotic Resistance in Escherichia Coli from the Fecal Flora of Humans in a Rural Area of Songkhla Province

Objective: To determine the prevalence of antibiotic resistance in fecal Escherichia coli (E. coli ) isolated from humans in a rural area of Songkhla province.Meterial and Methods: E. coli strains were isolated from the stool cultures of 75 healthy volunteers in a rural area. Resistance rates for 8 antibiotics were determined.Results: The resistance rates for amoxicillin, doxycyclin, cotrimoxazole, gentamicin and cefazolin were 53.3, 51.3, 24.0, 5.3 and 3.3%, respectively. No resistance to norfloxacin, ceftriaxone, and imipenem were detected.Conclusion: The most prevalent resistant strains were found against amoxicillin. The prevalence of drug resistance in all multidrug resistant isolates were resistant to amoxicillin and doxycycline. No strains were resistant to all antibiotics in all antimicrobial categories as all the strains were found to be sensitive to ceftriazone, norfloxacin and imipenem.