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PMID: 4597713 Published · ppublish English Journal Article

Drug resistance of coliform bacteria in hospital and city sewage.

Antimicrobial agents and chemotherapy ·Vol. 3 ·No. 2 ·1973-02-00 ·Pages 175-80

Grabow WO, Prozesky OW

Abstract

The number and properties of drug-resistant coliform bacteria in hospital and city sewage were compared. There was little difference in the counts of organisms with nontransferable resistance to one or more of 13 commonly used drugs. An average of 26% of coliforms in hospital waste water had transferable resistance to at least one of the drugs ampicillin, chloramphenicol, streptomycin, sulfonamide, or tetracycline as compared to an average of 4% in city sewage. R(+) bacteria in the hospital discharge were also resistant to a broader spectrum of drugs than those in city sewage. In both effluents, the occurrence of fecal Escherichia coli among R(+) coliforms was twice as high as among coliforms with nontransferable resistance. Resistance was transferable to Salmonella typhi, and such drug-resistant pathogens in the water environment could be of particular concern. The significance of the results with regard to environmental pollution with R(+) bacteria and the dissemination of these organisms is discussed.

MeSH Terms
Anti-Bacterial Agents/pharmacology Drug Resistance, Microbial Escherichia coli/drug effects Hospitals Salmonella/drug effects Sewage
Chemicals
Anti-Bacterial Agents Sewage
Authors & Affiliations
2 authors, click to expand affiliations / ORCID
Grabow W O
Prozesky O W
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24 references, click to expand
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Article Info
Journal
Antimicrobial agents and chemotherapy
Abbr.
Antimicrob Agents Chemother
ISSN
0066-4804
DOI
10.1128/AAC.3.2.175
Published
1973-02-00
Pages
175-80
Language
English
Region
United States
NLM ID
0315061
PMCID
PMC444383
Subset
IM
External Links
PubMed source DOI: 10.1128/AAC.3.2.175 PMC Full Text View journal details
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