Amany El-Sharif* and Raghdaa Ali
Objectives: To characterize multiresistant E.coli isolated from diarrheic children and determine their prevalence and antimicrobial susceptibility pattern and the major mechanism of resistance.  Methods: A total of 214 clinical isolates were recovered and identified from stool specimens collected from Egyptian children with diarrhea. Antibacterial susceptibility pattern against antibiotics as cefotaxime, ceftazidime, imipenem and aztreonam were determined. The isolates were screened for beta-Iactamase production by the Iodometric method. Multiplex PCR assay for detection of blaTEM-1 and blaTEM-2 encoding genes was carried out.  Results: The presence of multiple drug resistance to three different antimicrobial agents was very clear in about 88 % of isolates. The results revealed that among the detected 93% Beta-lactamase producers, 90% of the examined E.coli isolates contain blaTEM-1 and/or blaTEM-2 genes responsible for the production of beta-lactamases. This finding proves that TEM hyper production is a frequently described mechanism by which resistance to the beta-lactam antibiotics is mediated in E. coli currently isolated from diarrheic Egyptian children.  Conclusions: The presence of TEM-Type β-lactamase producing Escherichia coli is highly prevalent. This should be considering in management of severe cases and prescribing drugs. The presence of multidrug resistant E. coli isolates is attributed to β-lactamases production mediated by blaTEM genes.
