Antimicrobial Resistance Pattern and Ribotyping of Shigella sonnei Isolated in Korea

Yum, Jong Hwa; Ryeom, Kon

Abstract

Antimicrobial resistance, plasmid profile, and ribotype were determined from the 49 strains of Shigella sonnei isolated from 1992 to 1994 in Korea. Four patterns of antimicrobial resistance were shown. Based on the and microbial resistance test, 49 isolates of Shigella sonnei showed resistance to at least one antimicrobial drugs. These Shigella sonnei isolates are placed into 7 different plasmid profiles. Thirty-eight strains showed pattern III and pattern IV. From endonuclease analysis, twelve (Hind III), nine (Bam HI), seventeen (Eco RI) patterns of plasmid profile were shown. To determine whether ribotyping could be used to distinguish among Shiglla sonnei isolates, Southern hybridization studies were conducted. Shigella sonnri genomic DNA fragments by digestion with Sal I and ribotyping revealed five distinct patterns of ribotype (strains with patterns I, II, III, IV, and V) after hybridization with Escherichia coli 16s and 23s rRNAs. Compared with Sal I only a single pattern of ribotype by Hinc II was found. According to these data, Shigella sonnei strains in Korea seemed to be more than five clones. However, we cannot find consistent relationship among antimicrobial resistance, plasmid profile, and ribotyping. Thus it is needed to consider antimicrobial resistance, plasmid profile, and ribotyping for the epidemiological study of Shigella sonnei in Korea.