MULTIPLE-DRUG RESISTANCE PATTERNS AND PLASMID PROFILES OF NONTYPHI SALMONELLAE IN TURKEY

A total of 259 clinical isolates of nonrepetitive non-typhi salmonella e (NTS) were examined for antibiotic resistance patterns and plasmid c ontent. The antibiotics used were amoxicillin-clavulanic acid (AMC), a mpicillin (AM), aztreonam (ATM), carbenicillin (CB), cefixime (CFM), c efotaxime (CTX), cefoxitin (FOX), ceftazidime (CAZ), ceftriaxone (CRO) , chloramphenicol (C), ciprofloxacin (CIP), gentamicin (GM), imipenem (IPM), ofloxacin (OFX), tetracycline (TE), trimethoprim-sulfomethoxazo le (SXT). Multi-drug resistant (MDR) strains comprised 19.3 % of the t otal isolates (50/259) and almost all were S. typhimurium (49/50). Fif teen different patterns of resistance was observed, AM/CB/C/AMC/TE and AM/CB/C/AMC/SXT/GM/CTX/CRO/CAZ/CFM/ATM being the most frequent patter ns. Twenty-eight out of 50 multiresistant isolates were found to conta in at least one plasmid (mean five) and the size of the plasmids range d between 1.7 and 158 kb. Plasmid profiles of multiresistant NTS strai ns were heterogenous as 21 different profiles were detected in a total of 28 plasmid-bearing isolates. No direct correlation was established between antibiotic resistance patterns and plasmid profiles.