Fluoroquinolone resistance in Campylobacter absent from isolates, Australia - Dispatches

Emerging Infectious Diseases,  Nov, 2003  by Leanne Unicomb,  John Ferguson,  Thomas V Riley,  Peter Collignon

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Table. Fluoroquinolone resistance data for Australian Campylobacter
isolates

                     Isolate source and    Total no.
Study location       collection period     tested

New South Wales      Human feces           180 (b)
                     1999-2001
Western Australia    Human feces            50 (b)
                     1999-2000
Australian Capital   Human feces/blood     140 (d)
  Territory          2001-2002

                     Proportion (a) of fluoroquinolone-resistant
                                    isolates (%)

                                                        Unknown
                     Locally           Overseas       acquisition
Study location       acquired          acquired          status

New South Wales      0/144 (0)       3 (c)/7 (43)    2 (c)/29 (6.9)

Western Australia                        4 (c)          0/46 (0)

Australian Capital                         3           0/137 (0)
  Territory

(a) No. of resistant isolates by acquisition status/total no. isolates
tested in acquisition status category.

(b) Testing by agar dilution, Mueller-Hinton agar with 5% lysed sheep
blood (7).

(c) Resistant to ciprofloxacin (MIC [greater than or equal to] 4 mg/L).

(d) Testing by disc-susceptibility method (8).

Antimicrobial testing of isolates from the New South Wales case-control study was funded by OzFoodNet, enhanced surveillance program of the Department of Health and Ageing, Australia.

Ms. Unicomb is an epidemiologist with OzFoodNet, the Australian enhanced foodborne disease surveillance program with particular involvement in studies of the risk factors for campylobacter infection and subtyping methods for that organism.

References

(1.) Blumer C, Roche P, Spencer J, Lin M, Milton A, Bunn C, et al. Annual report of the National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System. Commun Dis Intell 2003;27:1-78.

(2.) Smith KE, Besser KM, Hedberg CW, Leano FT, Bender JB, Wicklund JH, et al. Quinolone-resistant Campylobacter jejuni infections in Minnesota, 1992 1998. N Engl J Med 1999:340:1525 32.

(3.) Wegener HC. The consequences for food safety of the use of fluoroquinolones in food animals. N Engl J Med 1999;340:1581-2.

(4.) Engberg J, Aarestrup FM, Taylor DE, Gamer-Smidt P, Nachamkin I. Quinolone and macrolide resistance hi Campylobacter jejuni and C. coli: resistance mechanisms and trends in human isolates. Emerg Infect Dis 2001;7:24-34.

(5.) Gaunt PN, Piddock LJ. Ciprofloxacin resistant Campylobacter spp. in humans: an epidemiological and laboratory study. J Antimicrob Chemother 1996;37:747-57.

(6.) Commonwealth of Australia. The use of antibiotics in food-producing animals: antibiotic resistant bacteria in animals and humans. Report of the .Joint Expert Advisory Committee on Antibiotic Resistance (JETACAR). 1999 [accessed 2003 Feb]. Available from: URL: http://www.health.gov.au/pubs/jetacar.htm

(7.) Sharma H, Unicomb L, Forbes W, Djordjevic S, Valcanis M, Dalton C, et al. Antibiotic resistance in Campylobacter jejuni isolated from humans in the Hunter Region, New South Wales. Commun Dis Intell 2003;27(Suppl):S80-8.