Antibiotic Susceptibility Profile and Occurrence of Escherichia coli Isolated from Clinical and Environmental Samples in Cape Coast, Ghana

Background: Escherichia coli is one of the most common causative agent of bacterial diseases. The prevalence of E. coli infection and its outbreak has been reported in many countries but scanty information is available on the antibiogram of this bacterium in Cape Coast, a major tourist destination in West Africa. Materials and Methods: The antibiotic susceptibility and occurrence of Escherichia coli isolated from clinical and environmental samples from the Cape Coast Metropolis were investigated. Bacteria isolation and identification were carried out using various bacteriological media and Analytical Profile Index (API) 20 E kits, respectively. All the test E. coli isolates were screened for their susceptibility to 16 antibiotics. Results: In all, 389 E. coli isolates were obtained comprising 261 and 128 from clinical and environmental samples respectively. All E. coli isolates were 100% sensitive to Imipenem. The percentage sensitivities of clinical E. coli isolates to ampicillin (0-24.1%), tetracycline (16.0-28.4%), cotrimoxazole (16.8-22.0%), cefuroxime (27.6-43.2%) and nalidixic acid (22.1-47.8%) were found to be relatively low. The sensitivity of environmental isolates to the 16 antibiotics was higher than that of clinical isolates, except for nalidixic acid, aztreonam and amikacin to which isolates from environmental samples were less sensitive.