Antibiotic resistance of faecal Escherichia coli from healthy volunteers from eight developing countries.
OBJECTIVE
To determine the prevalence of antibiotic-resistant faecal Escherichia coli from adult volunteers from urban (U) areas in Kenya, Mexico, Peru and the Philippines, and non-urban (NU) locations in Curacao, Mexico, Venezuela, Ghana, Zimbabwe and the Philippines.


METHODS
Faecal samples of adult volunteers (n=1290) were analysed in one laboratory for the presence of antimicrobial-resistant E. coli using Eosin Methylene Blue agar plates containing, respectively, ampicillin, oxytetracycline, cefazolin, ciprofloxacin, gentamicin, chloramphenicol and trimethoprim at breakpoint concentrations.


RESULTS
The mean age of the volunteers was approximately 35 years; most of them were female. Ciprofloxacin resistance was in the range 1%-63%: the highest percentages were found in the urban populations of Asia and South America. In Peru and the Philippines (U and NU), the prevalence of gentamicin resistance was >20%. Cefazolin resistance was the highest in the urban Philippines (25%). Higher prevalences for ampicillin, oxytetracycline and trimethoprim were found for urban areas compared with non-urban ones of Asia, Africa and South America, respectively (P<0.05).


CONCLUSIONS
In the populations studied, antibiotic resistance in faecal E. coli from adult volunteers was emerging for cefazolin, gentamicin and ciprofloxacin and was high for the older drugs ampicillin, oxytetracycline, trimethoprim and chloramphenicol.
Nys
S
S
Department of Medical Microbiology, University Hospital Maastricht, Medical Microbiology, P.O. Box 5800, 6202AZ Maastricht, The Netherlands.
Okeke
I N
IN
Kariuki
S
S
Dinant
G J
GJ
Driessen
C
C
Stobberingh
E E
EE
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D024881:Drug Resistance, Bacterial; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000187:drug effects*; D005243:Feces / Q000382:microbiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged
D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents