Skip to main content
NCBI home page
Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy logoLink to Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy
. 1982 Nov;22(5):852–858. doi: 10.1128/aac.22.5.852

Selection for mercurial resistance in hospital settings.

F D Porter, S Silver, C Ong, H Nakahara
PMCID: PMC185672  PMID: 6758691

Abstract

The frequency of resistance to Hg2+ in 1980 to 1981 collections from Barnes Hospital, St. Louis, Mo., was only 2% for Staphylococcus aureus and 9% for Escherichia coli. The frequency of Hg2+ resistance in E. coli isolates from Jikei University Hospital, Tokyo, Japan, was 57% during 1972 to 1977 and decreased to 29% in 1979 to 1982; for S. aureus the frequency of Hg2+ resistance dropped from 36% in 1972 to 1977 to 10% in 1979 to 1982. Frequencies of resistances to cadmium (S. aureus) and arsenic (S. aureus and E. coli) remained approximately constant during this time. The decrease in frequency of mercurial resistance is attributed to the termination of the use of organomercurials (largely phenylmercury and thimerosal) in hospital liquid detergents and disinfectants. It is proposed that selection for mercurial resistance occurred within the hospital setting when there was widespread use of mercurials. The resistance patterns and phage types for each of four new mercurial-resistant S. aureus isolates from St. Louis were distinct, indicating that no single type of "hospital staph" predominates. Furthermore, resistance to thimerosal, merbromin, and methylmercury and the ability to volatilize 14C from [14C]methylmercury were found with the new isolates and never with previously known mercurial resistance plasmids in S. aureus.

Full text

PDF
852

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Clark D. L., Weiss A. A., Silver S. Mercury and organomercurial resistances determined by plasmids in Pseudomonas. J Bacteriol. 1977 Oct;132(1):186–196. doi: 10.1128/jb.132.1.186-196.1977. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Foster T. J., Nakahara H., Weiss A. A., Silver S. Transposon A-generated mutations in the mercuric resistance genes of plasmid R100-1. J Bacteriol. 1979 Oct;140(1):167–181. doi: 10.1128/jb.140.1.167-181.1979. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Groves D. J., Short H., Thewaini A. J., Young F. E. Epidemiology of antibiotic and heavy metal resistance in bacteria: resistance patterns in staphylococci isolated from populations in Iraq exposed and not exposed to heavy metals or antibiotics. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 1975 May;7(5):622–628. doi: 10.1128/aac.7.5.622. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Hall B. M. Distribution of mercury resistance among Staphylococcus aureus isolated from a hospital community. J Hyg (Lond) 1970 Mar;68(1):111–119. doi: 10.1017/s0022172400028564. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Hall B. M. Mercury resistance of Staphylococcus aureus. J Hyg (Lond) 1970 Mar;68(1):121–129. doi: 10.1017/s0022172400028576. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Lacey R. W. Rarity of gene transfer between animal and human isolates of Staphylococcus aureus in vitro. J Gen Microbiol. 1980 Aug;119(2):437–442. doi: 10.1099/00221287-119-2-437. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. MOORE B. A new screen test and selective medium for the rapid detection of epidemic strains of Staph. aureus. Lancet. 1960 Aug 27;2(7148):453–458. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(60)91591-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Nakahara H., Ishikawa T., Sarai Y., Kondo I. Distribution of resistances to metals and antibiotics of staphylococcal strains in Japan. Zentralbl Bakteriol Orig A. 1977 Apr;237(4):470–476. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Nakahara H., Ishikawa T., Sarai Y., Kondo I. Frequency of heavy-metal resistance in bacteria from inpatients in Japan. Nature. 1977 Mar 10;266(5598):165–167. doi: 10.1038/266165a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Nakahara H., Ishikawa T., Sarai Y., Kondo I., Kozukue H., Silver S. Linkage of mercury, cadmium, and arsenate and drug resistance in clinical isolates of Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Appl Environ Microbiol. 1977 Apr;33(4):975–976. doi: 10.1128/aem.33.4.975-976.1977. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Novick R. P., Roth C. Plasmid-linked resistance to inorganic salts in Staphylococcus aureus. J Bacteriol. 1968 Apr;95(4):1335–1342. doi: 10.1128/jb.95.4.1335-1342.1968. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Schottel J. L. The mercuric and organomercurial detoxifying enzymes from a plasmid-bearing strain of Escherichia coli. J Biol Chem. 1978 Jun 25;253(12):4341–4349. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Schottel J., Mandal A., Clark D., Silver S., Hedges R. W. Volatilisation of mercury and organomercurials determined by inducible R-factor systems in enteric bacteria. Nature. 1974 Sep 27;251(5473):335–337. doi: 10.1038/251335a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Silver S., Budd K., Leahy K. M., Shaw W. V., Hammond D., Novick R. P., Willsky G. R., Malamy M. H., Rosenberg H. Inducible plasmid-determined resistance to arsenate, arsenite, and antimony (III) in escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus. J Bacteriol. 1981 Jun;146(3):983–996. doi: 10.1128/jb.146.3.983-996.1981. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Summers A. O., Silver S. Mercury resistance in a plasmid-bearing strain of Escherichia coli. J Bacteriol. 1972 Dec;112(3):1228–1236. doi: 10.1128/jb.112.3.1228-1236.1972. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Summers A. O., Silver S. Microbial transformations of metals. Annu Rev Microbiol. 1978;32:637–672. doi: 10.1146/annurev.mi.32.100178.003225. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Tezuka T., Tonomura K. Purification and properties of a second enzyme catalyzing the splitting of carbon-mercury linkages from mercury-resistant Pseudomonas K-62. J Bacteriol. 1978 Jul;135(1):138–143. doi: 10.1128/jb.135.1.138-143.1978. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Tynecka Z., Gos Z., Zajac J. Energy-dependent efflux of cadmium coded by a plasmid resistance determinant in Staphylococcus aureus. J Bacteriol. 1981 Aug;147(2):313–319. doi: 10.1128/jb.147.2.313-319.1981. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Weiss A. A., Murphy S. D., Silver S. Mercury and organomercurial resistances determined by plasmids in Staphylococcus aureus. J Bacteriol. 1977 Oct;132(1):197–208. doi: 10.1128/jb.132.1.197-208.1977. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Weiss A. A., Silver S., Kinscherf T. G. Cation transport alteration associated with plasmid-determined resistance to cadmium in Staphylococcus aureus. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 1978 Dec;14(6):856–865. doi: 10.1128/aac.14.6.856. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. Witte W., Van Dip N., Hummel R. Resistenz gegen Quecksilber und Cadmium bei Staphylococcus aureus unterschiedlicher ökologischer Herkunft. Z Allg Mikrobiol. 1980;20(8):517–521. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy are provided here courtesy of American Society for Microbiology (ASM)

RESOURCES