Multidrug-resistant Shigella infection in pediatric patients with diarrhea from central Iran Elnaz Abbasi,1,2 Hamid Abtahi,3 Alex van Belkum,4 Ehsanollah Ghaznavi-Rad1,31Department of Microbiology & Immunology, Faculty of Medicine, Arak University of Medical Sciences, Arak, Iran; 2Department of Microbiology & Immunology, Khomein University of Medical Sciences, Khomein, Iran; 3Molecular and Medicine Research Center, Faculty of Medicine, Arak University of Medical Sciences, Arak, Iran; 4Data Analytics Department, BioMérieux, La Balme les Grottes, FranceBackground: Shigella spp. are primary pathogens of diarrhea in children worldwide. Emergence of resistance to fluoroquinolones and third-generation cephalosporins is crucial in the management of pediatric shigellosis. We determined the prevalence and the antibiotic resistance patterns of Shigella species isolated from pediatric patients in central Iran.Materials and methods: Pediatric diarrhea samples