Introduction: Hospital microbiology laboratories do not routinely allow for testing for community gastrointestinal stool pathogens in hospitalized patients who develop diarrhea after day 3 of hospitalization. In contrast, community microbiology laboratories routinely collect data on gastrointestinal stool pathogens, including their antimicrobial susceptibility profiles. To assist community antimicrobial stewardship, the current study aimed to summarize the susceptibilities of Salmonella and Shigella isolates in stool cultures performed in regional community microbiology laboratories in British Columbia (BC), Canada.

Methods: LifeLabs BC microbiology laboratories, connected with 129 collection centres in urban and rural communities in the province, provided the laboratory data for the Salmonella and Shigella species that were isolated in stool cultures. An audit was conducted from January 1, 2020, to December 31, 2023.

Results:

Table 1: Antimicrobial Susceptibilities of Salmonella and Shigella species isolates in stool culture in British Columbia, Canada, 2020-2023

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1sA8xTisYM553KEtKpLtFiPi1z00R8kqH/view?usp=sharing

(Results could be skewed for antibiotic susceptibility results with <30 isolates.)

Conclusion: Salmonella Paratyphi A and Salmonella Typhi isolates in stool were universally susceptible to ampicillin, trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, azithromycin, and ceftriaxone. Choosing an oral antimicrobial agent for Shigella species is a challenge, as the sensitivities of oral agents were <50%. However, Shigella boydii, Shigella flexneri, and Shigella sonnei were >80% susceptible to intravenous ceftriaxone.