title: Dissemination of a gentamicin resistance plasmid in the microbial population of hospital patients.
abstract: The dissemination of a gentamicin resistant plasmid, originally found in strains of Klebsiella and termed pk181, into the microbial population of patients of the Orvieto Hospital was studied during 1982. Five hundred and seventy-four strains of Gram-negative bacilli were examined, transferable gentamicin resistance being revealed in five different bacterial species. The resistance was shown to be encoded by 81-megadalton plasmids in Escherichia coli and Enterobacter cloacae, and by 93-megadalton plasmids in Serratia marcescens and Pseudomonas spp. Restriction endonuclease digestion of plasmid DNA showed that the fragment patterns of the 81-megadalton plasmids from E. coli and enterobacter cloacae were identical to one another and to the pattern of plasmid pk181. The fragment patterns of the 93-megadalton plasmids from Serratia and Pseudomonas, on the contrary, differed substantially from those of the 81-megadalton plasmids.
mesh_terms: D004262:DNA Restriction Enzymes; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000032:analysis; D004352:Drug Resistance, Microbial; D004587:Electrophoresis, Agar Gel; D004754:Enterobacter / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics; D005839:Gentamicins / Q000494:pharmacology*; D006090:Gram-Negative Bacteria / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics*; D006761:Hospitals; D006801:Humans; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests; D011513:Proteus mirabilis / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics; D011549:Pseudomonas / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics; D011815:R Factors; D012706:Serratia marcescens / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D005839:Gentamicins; D004262:DNA Restriction Enzymes