title: Antibiotic resistance and adhesion potential of Bacteroides fragilis clinical isolates from Cape Town, South Africa.
abstract: The minimum inhibitory concentrations of 23 Bacteroides fragilis clinical isolates from Cape Town, South Africa, were established using the E-test method. Eight percent of the strains were found to be highly resistant to metronidazole (≥256 mg/L) imipenem and cefoxitin. This is an 8% increase in resistance compared to the previous metronidazole susceptibility screening performed in South Africa in 1998. Clindamycin was the most effective antibiotic with all strains showing sensitivity. Most of the strains (65%) were tetracycline resistant, while one strain, B. fragilis GSH15, showed multidrug resistance to metronidazole, imipenem, cefoxitin and tetracycline. PCR screening revealed that none of the strains contained any of the published nim genes. The particle agglutination assay was employed to determine the ability of the isolates to bind the ECM components fibronectin, laminin, mucin and collagen. This revealed that 78% of the clinical isolates adhered to all four ECM components to varying extents, with the strongest being to laminin and weakest to mucin and collagen Type I.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch, South Africa.
authors.forename: B P G V
authors.initials: BP
authors.lastname: Galvão
authors.forename: R L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Meggersee
authors.forename: V R
authors.initials: VR
authors.lastname: Abratt
mesh_terms: D000372:Agglutination Tests / Q000379:methods; D001422:Bacterial Adhesion / Q000502:physiology*; D001442:Bacteroides Infections / Q000382:microbiology; D001441:Bacteroides fragilis / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000502:physiology*; D004352:Drug Resistance, Microbial; D005109:Extracellular Matrix / Q000378:metabolism; D005798:Genes, Bacterial; D006801:Humans; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests / Q000379:methods; D013019:South Africa