title: Antimicrobial-resistant Salmonella serovars isolated from imported foods.
abstract: A total of 187 Salmonella isolates representing 82 serotypes recovered from 4072 imported foods in the year 2000 by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration field laboratories were tested for their susceptibility to 17 antimicrobials of human and veterinary importance. Fifteen (8%) isolates were resistant to at least one antimicrobial, and five (2.7%) were resistant to three or more antimicrobials. Most of the isolates (n=9) exhibited resistance to tetracycline. Four isolates from catfish or tilapia from Taiwan or Thailand also demonstrated resistance to nalidixic acid. These nalidixic acid-resistant Salmonella isolates possessed a point mutation at the Ser83 or Asp87 position in DNA gryase, resulting in amino acid substitutions to phenylalanine, tyrosine, or asparagine. One Salmonella Derby isolated from frozen anchovies imported from Cambodia was resistant to six antimicrobials including ampicillin, amoxicillin/clavulanic acid, chloramphenicol, sulfamethoxazole, tetracycline, and trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole. Of seven isolates displaying resistance to sulfonamides, only one S. Derby and one Salmonella Agona contained class 1 integrons that were further shown to possess the aadA and pse-1 genes conferring resistance to streptomycin and ampicillin, respectively. This study indicates that antimicrobial-resistant Salmonella are present in imported foods, primarily of seafood origin, and stresses the need for continued surveillance of foodborne zoonotic bacterial pathogens from imported foods entering the United States.
authors.affiliation: Division of Animal and Food Microbiology, Office of Research, Center for Veterinary Medicine, U.S. Food and Drug Administration, 8401 Muirkirk Road, Laurel, MD 20708, USA. szhao@cvm.fda.gov
authors.forename: Shaohua
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: Atin R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Datta
authors.forename: Sherry
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ayers
authors.forename: Sharon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Friedman
authors.forename: Robert D
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: Walker
authors.forename: David G
authors.initials: DG
authors.lastname: White
mesh_terms: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000032:analysis; D024881:Drug Resistance, Bacterial; D024901:Drug Resistance, Multiple, Bacterial; D005516:Food Microbiology; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests; D017354:Point Mutation; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012475:Salmonella / Q000145:classification* / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D017747:Seafood / Q000382:microbiology*; D012703:Serotyping; D014481:United States; D014486:United States Food and Drug Administration
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D004269:DNA, Bacterial