Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-sxzjt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-23T15:01:17.763Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The prevalence of antimicrobial resistance in human faecal flora in South Africa

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 May 2009

P. M. A. Shanahan ,
B. A. Wylie ,
P. V. Adrian ,
H. J. Koornhof ,
C. J. Thomson  and
S. G. B. Amyes
P. M. A. Shanahan
Affiliation:
Department of Medical Microbiology, The Medical School, University of Edinburgh, Teviot Place, Edinburgh EH8 9AG, Scotland
B. A. Wylie
Affiliation:
Emergent Pathogen Research Unit of the Medical Research Council, University of the Witwatersrand and the South African Institute for Medical Research, Johannesburg 2000, South Africa
P. V. Adrian
Affiliation:
Emergent Pathogen Research Unit of the Medical Research Council, University of the Witwatersrand and the South African Institute for Medical Research, Johannesburg 2000, South Africa
H. J. Koornhof
Affiliation:
Emergent Pathogen Research Unit of the Medical Research Council, University of the Witwatersrand and the South African Institute for Medical Research, Johannesburg 2000, South Africa
C. J. Thomson
Affiliation:
Department of Medical Microbiology, The Medical School, University of Edinburgh, Teviot Place, Edinburgh EH8 9AG, Scotland
S. G. B. Amyes*
Affiliation:
Department of Medical Microbiology, The Medical School, University of Edinburgh, Teviot Place, Edinburgh EH8 9AG, Scotland
*
*All correspondence and reprint requests should be sent to Professor S. G. B. Amyes, Department of Medical Microbiology, The Medical School, University of Edinburgh, Teviot Place, Edinburgh EH8 9AG, Scotland.
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Between January and March 1992, 361 faecal specimens were collected from the healthy black population in the Transvaal Province of South Africa. Each specimen was examined for the prevalence of antimicrobial resistance in commensal bacteria. Volunteers, from both rural and urban dwellings, were divided into four age groups. The overall carriage rate of resistance varied from 88.6% for ampicillin, 74.2% for trimethoprim, 52.6% for chloramphenicol, 10.2% for nalidixic acid to 7.5% for gentamicin. The carriage of resistance found to each individual antimicrobial agent was slightly higher in the rural population rather than the urban population but there was no correlation between the prevalence of antimicrobial resistance and the age group.

Type
Research Article
Information
Epidemiology & Infection , Volume 111 , Issue 2 , October 1993 , pp. 221 - 228
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1993

References

REFERENCES

1.Murray, BE, Mathewson, JJ, Dupont, HL, Ericsson, CD, Reves, RR. Emergence of resistant fecal Escherichia coli in travellers not taking prophylactic antimicrobial agents. Antimicrob Agents Chemother 1990; 34: 515–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
2.Farrar, WE. Antibiotic resistance in developing countries. J Infect Dis 1985; 152: 1103–6.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
3.Young, H-K, Jesudason, MV, Koshi, G, Amyes, SGB. Trimethoprim resistance amongst urinary pathogens in South India. J Antimicrob Chemother 1986; 17: 615–21.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
4.Wylie, BA. Koornhof, HJ. Trimethoprim resistance in gram-negative bacteria isolated in South Africa. J Antimicrob Chemother 1989; 24: 973–82.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
5.Lamikanra, A, Ndep, RB. Trimethoprim resistance in urinary tract pathogens in two Nigerian hospitals. J Antimicrob Chemother 1989; 3: 151–4.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
6.Heikkila, E, Renkonen, OV, Sunila, R, Uurasmaa, P, Huovinen, P. The emergence and mechanisms of trimethoprim resistance in Escherichia coli isolated from outpatients in Finland. J Antimicrob Chemother 1990; 25: 275–83.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
7.Thomson, CJ, Paton, RH, Hood, J, Miles, RS, Amyes, SGB. Antibiotic resistance in urinary bacteria isolated in central Scotland. International J Antimicrob Agents 1992; 1: 223–8.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
8.Amyes, SGB, Tait, S, Thomson, CJ, et al. The incidence of antibiotic resistance in aerobic faecal flora in South India. J Antimicrob Chemother 1992; 29: 415–25.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
9.Levy, SB, Marshall, B, Schluederberg, S, Rowse, D, Davis, J. High frequency of antimicrobial resistance in human fecal flora. Antimicrob Agents Chemother 1988; 32: 1801–6.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
10.Lester, SC, Del, Pilar Pla M, Wang, F, Perez Schael, I, Jiang, H, O'Brien, TF. The carriage of Escherichia coli resistant to antimicrobial agents by healthy children in Boston, in Caracas, Venezuela, and in Qin Pu, China. N Engl J Med 1990; 323: 285–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
11.Bonten, M. Stobberingh, E, Philips, J, Houben, A. Antibiotic resistance of Escherichia coli in fecal samples of healthy people in two areas in an industrialized country. Infection 1992; 20: 258–62.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
12.Thomson, CJ, Tait, S, Jesudason, MV, Amyes, SGB. Dissemination of the TEM-1 Beta-lactamase gene into disparate plasmids in faecal Escherichia coli isolated in Vellore, South India. J Infection 1993; 47: 47–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
13.Hawkey, PM. Resistant bacteria in the normal human flora. J Antimicrob Chemother 1986; 18 Suppl. C: 133–9.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
14.Levy, SB, Fitzgerald, GB, Macone, AB. Spread of antibiotic-resistant plasmids from chicken to chicken and from chicken to man. Nature 1976; 260: 40–2.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
15.Linton, AH. Flow of resistance genes in the environment and from animals to man. J Antimicrob Chemother 1986; 18 Suppl. C: 189–97.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
16.Levy, SB, Burke, JP, Wallace, CK. Antibiotic use and antibiotic resistance worldwide. Rev Infect Dis 1987; 9 Suppl. 3: S231–S316.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
17.Reves, RR, Fong, M, Pickering, LK, Bartlett, A III, Alvarez, M, Murray, BE. Risk factors for fecal colonization with trimethoprim-resistant and multiresistant Escherichia coli among children in day-care centres in Houston, Texas. Antimicrob Agents Chemother 1990; 34: 1429–34.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
18.Hartley, CL, Richmond, MH. Antibiotic resistance and survival of Escherichia coli in the alimentary tract. B M J 1975; 4: 71–4.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
19.Amyes, SGB, Gould, IM. Trimethoprim-resistant plasmids in faecal bacteria. Ann Microbiol Inst Pasteur 1984; 135B: 177–86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
20.Bachmann, BJ. Pedigrees of some mutant strains of Escherichia coli. Bact Rev 1972; 36: 525–57.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
21.Degener, JE, Smit, ACW, Michel, MF, Valkenburg, HA, Muller, L. Faecal carriage of aerobic gram-negative bacilli and drug resistance of Escherichia coli in different age-groups in Dutch urban communities. J Med Microbiol 1983; 16: 139–45.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
22.Murray, BE, Alvarado, T, Kim, K-H, et al. Increasing resistance to trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole among isolates of Escherichia coli in developing countries. J Infect Dis 1985; 152: 1107–12.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
23.Singh, KV, Reves, RR, Pickering, LK. Murray, BE. Comparative in vitro activities of amoxicillin-clavulanic acid, cefuroxime, cephalexin, and cephalothin against trimethoprim-resistant Escherichia coli isolated from stools of children attending day-care centres. Antimicrob Agents Chemother 1990; 34: 2047–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
24.Rydberg, R, Cederberg, A. Intrafamilial spreading of Escherichia coli resistant to trimethropim. Scand J Infect Dis 1986; 18: 457–60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar