Skip to main content
NCBI home page
Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy logoLink to Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy
. 1973 Oct;4(4):459–466. doi: 10.1128/aac.4.4.459

Transferable Antibiotic Resistance in Enteropathogenic Escherichia coli Between 1948 and 1968

B Slocombe 1, R Sutherland 1
PMCID: PMC444577  PMID: 4598614

Abstract

Enteropathogenic strains of Escherichia coli which had been isolated in the United Kingdom during three periods between 1948 and 1968, namely 1948 to 1951, 1957 to 1960, and 1967 to 1968, were tested for susceptibility to ampicillin, streptomycin, tetracycline, chloramphenicol, and sulphonamides. Antibiotic-resistant strains were tested for their ability to transfer antibiotic resistance to an antibiotic-susceptible strain of E. coli K-12. A relatively high proportion of strains isolated between 1948 and 1951 was resistant to ampicillin, streptomycin, or sulphonamides. None of these strains transferred ampicillin or streptomycin resistance, but sulphonamide resistance was R-factor-mediated in three out of 14 sulphonamide-resistant strains. Resistance to tetracycline and chloramphenicol was rare before 1951 but had become common among enteropathogenic E. coli by 1957. Much of the antibiotic resistance of bacteria isolated between 1957 and 1960 was R-factor-mediated, and transferable resistance was about as prevalent among E. coli isolated between 1957 and 1960 as among strains isolated in 1967 and 1968. Nevertheless, there was no appreciable increase in the overall incidence of antibiotic resistance among these enteropathogenic strains of E. coli between 1957 and 1968, although transferable antibiotic resistance was common during this period. These results do not suggest that the emergence of transferable antibiotic resistance will inevitably lead to the rapid development of antibiotic resistance among this group of bacteria.

Full text

PDF
459

Selected References

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

  1. AKIBA T., KOYAMA K., ISHIKI Y., KIMURA S., FUKUSHIMA T. On the mechanism of the development of multiple-drug-resistant clones of Shigella. Jpn J Microbiol. 1960 Apr;4:219–227. doi: 10.1111/j.1348-0421.1960.tb00170.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Anderson E. S. Drug resistance in Salmonella typhimurium and its implications. Br Med J. 1968 Aug 10;3(5614):333–339. doi: 10.1136/bmj.3.5614.333. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Bouanchaud D. H., Scavizzi M. R., Chabbert Y. A. Elimination by ethidium bromide of antibiotic resistance in enterobacteria and staphylococci. J Gen Microbiol. 1968 Dec;54(3):417–425. doi: 10.1099/00221287-54-3-417. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Datta N. Drug resistance and R factors in the bowel bacteria of London patients before and after admission to hospital. Br Med J. 1969 May 17;2(5654):407–411. doi: 10.1136/bmj.2.5654.407. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Datta N., Faiers M. C., Reeves D. S., Brumfitt W., Orskov F., Orskov I. R Factors in Escherichia coli in faeces after oral chemotherapy in general practice. Lancet. 1971 Feb 13;1(7694):312–315. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(71)91042-7. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Davies J. R., Farrant W. N., Uttley A. H. Antibiotic resistance of Shigella sonnei. Lancet. 1970 Dec 5;2(7684):1157–1159. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(70)90341-7. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Evans J., Galindo E., Olarte J., Falkow S. Beta-lactamase of R factors. J Bacteriol. 1968 Oct;96(4):1441–1442. doi: 10.1128/jb.96.4.1441-1442.1968. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Guinée P. A. Prevalence of extrachromosomal drug resistance. Bacterial drug resistance in animals. Ann N Y Acad Sci. 1971 Jun 11;182:40–51. doi: 10.1111/j.1749-6632.1971.tb30641.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Kabins S. A., Cohen S. Resistance-transfer factor in Enterobacteriaceae. N Engl J Med. 1966 Aug 4;275(5):248–252. doi: 10.1056/NEJM196608042750504. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Lewis M. J. Transferable drug resistance and other transferable agents in strains of Escherichia coli from two human populations. Lancet. 1968 Jun 29;1(7557):1389–1393. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(68)91973-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Moorhouse E. C. Transferable drug resistance in enterobacteria isolated from urban infants. Br Med J. 1969 May 17;2(5654):405–407. doi: 10.1136/bmj.2.5654.405. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Ross S., Controni G., Khan W. Resistance of shigellae to ampicillin and other antibiotics. Its clinical and epidemiological implications. JAMA. 1972 Jul 3;221(1):45–47. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Slocombe B., Sutherland R. Sensitivity of Gram-negative bacilli to ampicillin after six years' clinical use. J Clin Pathol. 1969 Nov;22(6):644–648. doi: 10.1136/jcp.22.6.644. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Smith D. H., Armour S. E. Transferable R factors in enteric bacteria causing infection of the genitourinary tract. Lancet. 1966 Jul 2;2(7453):15–18. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(66)91745-4. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Smith D. H. R factor infection of Escherichia coli lyophilized in 1946. J Bacteriol. 1967 Dec;94(6):2071–2072. doi: 10.1128/jb.94.6.2071-2072.1967. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Smith H. W., Halls S. Observations on infective drug resistance in Britain. Br Med J. 1966 Jan 29;1(5482):266–269. doi: 10.1136/bmj.1.5482.266. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. WATANABE T. Infective heredity of multiple drug resistance in bacteria. Bacteriol Rev. 1963 Mar;27:87–115. doi: 10.1128/br.27.1.87-115.1963. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

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

RESOURCES