Drug resistance and R plasmids of Escherichia coli strains isolated from pigs, slaughterers, and breeders of pigs in Japan

Abstract

We isolated 1,120 drug-resistant Escherichia coli strains from pigs, slaughterers, breeders of pigs, and urban residents and examined their drug resistance. With reference to resistance to tetracycline (Tc) chloramphenicol (Cm), streptomycin (Sm), and sulfanilamide (Su), Tcr, Smr, and Sur strains were most frequently isolated from pigs (57.9%), followed by slaughterers (50.2%) and breeders (42.4%). By contrast, the isolation frequencies of Tcr, Smr, and Sur strains from urban residents were low (12.0%). The isolation frequencies of R plasmids from resistant strains were more than 50% in the case of pigs, slaughterers, and breeders, whereas they were only 13.8% in urban residents. Kanamycin-resistant strains were frequently isolated from pigs (40.3%), slaughterers (22.6%), and breeders of pigs (25.4%), but seldom (only 3.4%) from urban residents. With ampicillin resistance, the frequencies of strains from pigs, slaughterers, breeders, and urban residents were 30.0, 21.5, 5.6, and 13.8%, respectively. R plasmids specifying these latter resistances were frequently seen from pigs (24.0%), slaughterers (23.6%), and breeders (21.1%), but they were not isolated from urban residents. The results suggest that the porcine gut can function as a reservoir of antibiotic resistance plasmids which can then be directly transferred to humans, with the highest frequency of such plasmids appearing in people in the most immediate contact with these animals.