Open AccessMolecular characterization of antibiotic resistance in clinical Salmonella typhi isolated in Ghana
Author(s) -
MillsRobertson Felix,
Addy Marian E,
Mensah Patience,
Crupper Scott S
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
fems microbiology letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.899
H-Index - 151
eISSN - 1574-6968
pISSN - 0378-1097
DOI - 10.1111/j.1574-6968.2002.tb11398.x
Subject(s) - typhoid fever , ampicillin , salmonella typhi , microbiology and biotechnology , chloramphenicol , trimethoprim , antibiotics , sulfamethoxazole , tetracycline , streptomycin , salmonella , drug resistance , biology , plasmid , virology , bacteria , escherichia coli , genetics , gene
Fifty‐eight clinical Salmonella typhi strains isolated from patients suspected of suffering from typhoid fever were obtained at the Korle‐Bu Teaching Hospital and the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research, both located in Ghana, Africa. Each isolate was examined for susceptibility to ampicillin, chloramphenicol, streptomycin, tetracycline, and trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole by the disk diffusion assay. Five of the isolates were resistant to all five antibiotics while 10 isolates were resistant to ampicillin, chloramphenicol, and trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole, which are considered ‘first line’ antibiotics in the treatment of typhoid fever. Thirty‐four isolates were resistant to at least one of the antibiotics tested and 62% of these isolates possessed conjugable plasmids belonging to incompatibility group Inc HI. Ninety percent of the conjugable plasmids conferred a multiple drug‐resistant phenotype on the strains harboring them. Additionally, 14 strains contained plasmids that were transformable and six of them encoded multiple drug resistance. Our findings indicate that multiple drug resistance to the ‘first line’ antibiotics in S. typhi may be more prevalent in Africa than previously thought.