Prevalence of pathogenic bacteria and rotaviruses in stools of patients presenting with diarrhoea from rural communities in Venda, South Africa

We report the prevalence of bacterial enteropathogens and rotaviruses in diarrhoeic cases of rural residents in the Venda region of South Africa and provide baseline data on antibiotic susceptibility profiles of bacterial isolates. The prevalence of Aeromonas, Campylobacter, Escherlchia coli, Salmonella, Shigella, Plesiomonas, Vibrio cholerae, Yersinia enterocolitica and rotaviruses from stools of patients attending clinics was determined using standard microbiological methods. Antibiotic susceptibility profiles of bacterial isolates were determined using the Kirby-Bauer disc diffusion method. Escherichla coli was the most common bacterium isolated (20% of samples) followed by Campylobacter jejuni/coli (20%), Salmonella (14.5%), Shigella (12.5%), Plesiomonas shigelloides (11%) and Vibrio cholerae (3.7%). Rotaviruses were detected in 27% of specimens. The prevalence of bacteria and rotaviruses was higher in children aged less than five years than in older age groups (6-20+ years). All rotavirus-positive samples were of the G1 (VP7) variant belonging to serotype 1, whereas 44% each were of the P6 and P8 (VP4) serotypes and 12.5% were mixed strains (P6 + P8). PAGE analysis indicated that 78 (97.5%) and 2 (2.5%) were of the long and short electropherotypes, respectively. Over 85% of bacterial isolates were susceptible to ciprofloxacin, gentamicin, amikacin and nalidixic acid. Ali Salmonella isolates were susceptible to gentamicin and amikacin and all Plesiomonas isolates were susceptible to ciprofloxacin. Multi-antibiotic resistance of virtually all isolates to tetracycline, ampicillin, erythromycin and chloramphenicol was observed. Enteric bacterial pathogens and rotaviruses are therefore potentially serious threats to the health of the study population.