Korean J Clin Microbiol.  2007 Apr;10(1):32-36.

Antimicrobial Resistance in Escherichia coli Isolated from Healthy Volunteers of the Community

• Lee JM
• Hwang KW
• Jegal S

Abstract

BACKGROUND: We monitored the prevalence of antimicrobial resistance and the pattern of multiple drug resistance in Escherichia coli isolated from healthy people in the community.
METHODS
We performed antimicrobial susceptibility testing on 491 isolates of E. coli from 692 healthy people in Incheon from February to July in 2006. The results were interpreted according to the CLSI guidelines.
RESULTS
The highest rate of resistance was observed against tetracycline (46.6%), ampicillin (41.1%), ticarcillin (37.9%), streptomycin (31.0%), and nalidixic acid (23.6%). Twenty six percent of isolates were observed to be resistant to five or more of the antimicrobials tested.
CONCLUSION
In order to maintain a low level of antimicrobial use and resistance, the surveillance of antimicrobial resistance in the community would be very important, as it provides epidemical data to set up and control antibiotic guidelines and serves as an early warning for resistance in pathogenic bacteria.

Keyword

Antimicrobial resistance; E. coli; Surveillance

MeSH Terms

Ampicillin
Bacteria
Drug Resistance, Multiple
Escherichia coli*
Escherichia*
Healthy Volunteers*
Incheon
Nalidixic Acid
Prevalence
Streptomycin
Tetracycline
Ticarcillin
Ampicillin
Nalidixic Acid
Streptomycin
Tetracycline
Ticarcillin