title: Antibiotic resistance, plasmid profile and RAPD-PCR analysis of enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (EPEC) clinical isolates.
abstract: Enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (EPEC) is a leading cause of diarrhea among infants in developing countries. A total of 38 EPEC isolates, obtained from diarrhea patients of Hospital Miri, Sarawak, were investigated through plasmid profile, antibiotic resistance and randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) analysis. From the 8 types of antibiotics used, all isolates were 100% resistant to furoxime, cephalothin and sulphamethoxazole and showed high multiple antibiotic resistant (MAR) indexes, ranging from 0.5 to 1.0. In plasmid profiling, 22 isolates (58%) showed the presence of one or more plasmids in the range 1.0 to 30.9 mDa. The dendrogram obtained from the results of the RAPD-PCR discriminated the isolates into 30 single isolates and 3 clusters at the level of 40% similarity. The EPEC isolates were highly diverse, as shown by their differing plasmid profiles, antibiotic resistance patterns and RAPD profiles.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biotechnology, Faculty of Food Science and Biotechnology, University Putra Malaysia, UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Keng Fei
authors.initials: KF
authors.lastname: Wan
authors.forename: Son
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Radu
authors.forename: Yoke Kqueen
authors.initials: YK
authors.lastname: Cheah
authors.forename: Patrick Guda
authors.initials: PG
authors.lastname: Benjamin
authors.forename: Clemente Michael Wong Vui
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Ling
authors.forename: Shui Fong
authors.initials: SF
authors.lastname: Hon
authors.forename: Abidah
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Harun
authors.forename: Sze Khiong
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Lo
authors.forename: Phen Kiew
authors.initials: PK
authors.lastname: Liew
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D016172:DNA Fingerprinting / Q000379:methods*; D003967:Diarrhea / Q000382:microbiology; D004351:Drug Resistance / Q000235:genetics*; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000145:classification* / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics; D004927:Escherichia coli Infections / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology*; D006801:Humans; D008296:Malaysia / Q000453:epidemiology; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests; D010957:Plasmids / Q000235:genetics; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D019105:Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA Technique