Abstract

Plasmid diversity of multi-drug-resistant Escherichia coli isolated from children with diarrhoea in a poultry-farming area in Kenya

Kariuki, S. Gilks, C. F. Kimari, J. Muyodi, J. Waiyaki, P. Hart, C. A.
Ann Trop Med Parasitol. 1997; 9187-94

Permanent descriptor

https://doi.org/10.1080/00034983.1997.11813115

Biotin-labelled DNA probes and restriction-endonuclease digestion (RED) with HindIII were used to study the diversity of resistance plasmids (R-plasmids) from 414 Escherichia coli isolates: 168 from children living in close contact with antibiotic-fed poultry and 246 from the chickens. Full sensitivity to all 10 antimicrobials tested was more common in the isolates from poultry than in those from the children (36.2% v. 9.5%; P < 0.001). Multi-drug resistance, to at least two of the antimicrobials, was relatively common in the isolates from the children (85.5% v. 26.00%; P 71% of the isolates from children and 79% of those from poultry, resistance was encoded on a 100-110-kb transferable plasmid belonging to incompatibility group FII. However, RED patterns of R-plasmids from the two groups of isolates were highly diverse and not indicative of any close relatedness. This difference in patterns and in the levels of multi-drug resistance indicate that the isolates from the children and those from the poultry represent two distinct pools of resistance plasmids.