Antimicrobial Susceptibility to Azithromycin among Salmonella enterica Isolates from the United States

Abstract

ABSTRACTDue to emerging resistance to traditional antimicrobial agents, such as ampicillin, trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, and chloramphenicol, azithromycin is increasingly used for the treatment of invasiveSalmonellainfections. In the present study, 696 isolates of non-TyphiSalmonellacollected from humans, food animals, and retail meats in the United States were investigated for antimicrobial susceptibility to azithromycin. Seventy-twoSalmonella entericaserotype Typhi isolates from humans were also tested. For each isolate, MICs of azithromycin and 15 other antimicrobial agents were determined by broth microdilution. Among the non-TyphiSalmonellaisolates, azithromycin MICs among human isolates ranged from 1 to 32 μg/ml, whereas the MICs among the animal and retail meat isolates ranged from 2 to 16 μg/ml and 4 to 16 μg/ml, respectively. AmongSalmonellaserotype Typhi isolates, the azithromycin MICs ranged from 4 to 16 μg/ml. The highest MIC observed in the present study was 32 μg/ml, and it was detected in three human isolates belonging to serotypes Kentucky, Montevideo, and Paratyphi A. Based on our findings, we propose an epidemiological cutoff value (ECOFF) for wild-typeSalmonellaof ≤16 μg/ml of azithromycin. The susceptibility data provided could be used in combination with clinical outcome data to determine tentative clinical breakpoints for azithromycin andSalmonella enterica.