Antimicrobial susceptibility, phage typing and plasmid profile of Salmonella enterica serotype paratyphi A strains isolated in Kuwait.
OBJECTIVE
To determine the antimicrobial susceptibility, phage type and plasmid profile pattern of Salmonella enterica serotype paratyphi A strains isolated in Kuwait.


METHODS
From January 1995 to December 1999, 106 strains of S. enterica serotype paratyphi A isolated from an equal number of cases of enteric fever, attending the Infectious Disease and Mubarak Al-Kabeer Hospitals in Kuwait were investigated. The isolates were tested for antimicrobial susceptibility to 8 commonly used antimicrobial agents. Their phage type and plasmid profile patterns were determined using an international set of phages and Qiagen plasmid mini kit, respectively.


RESULTS
All of the isolates were susceptible to ciprofloxacin, cefuroxime, ceftazidime, piperacillin and co-trimoxazole. One hundred isolates were susceptible to ampicillin, 99 to chloramphenicol and 98 to tetracycline. None of the isolates was multidrug resistant. Sixty-six percent of the isolates were phage type I, 27.4% phage type II and 6.6% were untypable. All phage type I and untypable strains had 3 plasmids of 2.2, 5 and 20 kb, whereas phage type II strains had only 1 plasmid of 20 kb.


CONCLUSIONS
The findings indicate that while all of the isolates of the S. enterica serotype paratyphi A were susceptible to 4 of the drugs tested, some were resistant to ampicillin, chloramphenicol or tetracycline, thereby indicating the need for continued surveillance and monitoring of antimicrobial susceptibility of these isolates.
Panigrahi
D
D
Department of Medical Laboratory Sciences, Faculty of Allied Health Sciences, Kuwait University, Kuwait. debadatta@kuc01.kuniv.edu.kw
Chugh
T D
TD
West
P W J
PW
Dimitrov
T Z
TZ
Groover
S
S
Mehta
G
G
D001434:Bacteriophage Typing; D004351:Drug Resistance; D007730:Kuwait; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests / Q000379:methods; D010957:Plasmids; D012482:Salmonella paratyphi A / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification