Etiologic agents of acute gastroenteritis in adults

ABSTRACT ETIOLOGIC AGENTS OF ACUTE GASTROENTERITIS IN ADULTS Acute gastroenteritis is the most affecting diseases of life in all ages. Diarrheal diseases are the second cause of death next to cardiovascular diseases worldwide. Designating of the probable agents of gastroenteritis provide knowledge to diagnose easily,, treat effectively, and choose antimicrobial agent appropriately. In order to determine etiologic agents of acute gastroenteritis, stools of 110 patients with diarrhea examined. Stools of the patients who had taken antibiotics within 10 days, were investigated for Clostridium difficile toxin A. At least one pathogen were identified in 44.5% of the patients. The diagnosis of patients were amebiasis in 11 (10.0%), shigellosis in 11 (10.0%), and rotaviral infection in 11 (10.0%), giardiasis in 5 (4.5%), salmonellosis in 3 (2.7%). Each of remaining six patients had diarrhea caused by Enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (0.9%), Clostridium difficile (0.9%), Blastocystis hominis (0.9%), Shigella* Entamoeba histolytica (0.9%), Entamoeba histolytica+Giardia lamblia (0.9%), Candida+totaymis (0.9%). 2,7% of cases had mixed infection. Entamoeba histolytica (n:13 ), Shigella spp. (n:12), and rotaviruses (n:ll) were isolated most frequently ( 26%, 24%, 22% among all pathogens identified, respectively). Although none of the Salmonella isolates were resistant, 83.3% resistance to at least one antibiotic of Shigella isolates (n:10) were striking. Resistance to trimethoprim- sulfamethoxazole and ampicillin were 83.3% and 33.4%, respectively. Of diarrheal diseases in this region, rotaviruses are also important pathogens as much as protoza and bacteria for adults. Keywords: Gastroenteritis, diarrhea, etiology. VI