title: Prevalence and antimicrobial resistance of Cronobacter sakazakii isolated from domestic kitchens in middle Tennessee, United States.
abstract: Cronobacter sakazakii is an emerging opportunistic pathogen that has been implicated in cases of severe meningitis, sepsis, and necrotizing enterocolitis in premature and full-term infants. In this study, the prevalence of C. sakazakii was estimated in selected domestic  kitchens in middle Tennessee. Antimicrobial resistance patterns of these C. sakazakii isolates were examined for points of public health significance. A total of 234 contact sites in 78 domestic kitchens were tested for C. sakazakii. Consumers' used dishcloths and cleaning sponges  were also tested. Antimicrobial susceptibility of the identified C. sakazakii isolates was determined for 10 antimicrobial drugs by means of the disk diffusion method. C. sakazakii was recovered from 26.9% of domestic kitchens visited. Multidrug resistance was observed; the highest  resistance was to penicillin (76.1% of isolates) followed by tetracycline (66.6%), ciprofloxacin (57.1%), and nalidixic acid (47.6%). None of the C. sakazakii isolates were resistant to gentamicin. These results suggest that antibiotic-resistant C. sakazakii could be present  at various sites in domestic kitchens.
authors.affiliation: Department of Family and Consumer Sciences, Tennessee State University, 3500 John A. Merritt Boulevard, Nashville, TN 37209-1561, USA. akilonzontheng@tnstate.edu
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kilonzo-Nthenge
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Rotich
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Godwin
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nahashon
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Chen
mesh_terms: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D003257:Consumer Product Safety; D044083:Cronobacter sakazakii / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D024881:Drug Resistance, Bacterial; D024901:Drug Resistance, Multiple, Bacterial; D005516:Food Microbiology; D006801:Humans; D007225:Infant Food / Q000382:microbiology*; D041943:Infant Formula; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests; D015995:Prevalence; D013714:Tennessee
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents