• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.728-733
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• 2005

To elucidate the question of whether biofilm formed by the intercellular adhesion (ica) gene cluster has influences on antibiotic resistance in Staphylococcus epidermidis, we compared 124 skin strains with strains isolated from 50 blood cultures that cause septicemic diseases. The results revealed that the blood culture isolates were more resistant to the antibiotics tested than the saprophytic isolates. Moreover, antibiotic multiresistance was more prevalent in the clinical isolates. In the blood culture isolates, $46\%$ of the strains were resistant to three or more antibiotics, whereas only $12\%$ of the saprophytic isolates were resistant to three or more antibiotics. Interestingly, these characteristics were highly correlated with the biofilm formed by the ica gene cluster. In biofilm-producing strains, $84\%$ of the blood culture isolates and $44\%$ of the saprophytic isolates were antibiotic multiresistant, whereas only $22\%=;and\;9\%$, respectively, were antibiotic multiresistant in biofilm-nonproducing strains. Additionally, in the biofilm-producing ica-positive strains, $89\%$ of the blood culture isolates and $57\%$ of the saprophytic isolates were antibiotic multiresistant. However, the rate of the antibiotic multiresistance in the ica-negative strains was very low, thus indicating that the biofim formed by the lea gene cluster in S. epidermidis is an important pathogenic factor in association with the antibiotic multiresistance.

• YAKHAK HOEJI
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.51-54
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• 1986

Fecal samples from Kim-Hae farm animals were examined for the frequency of gram-negative enteric organisms resistant to tetracycline, streptomycin, or penicillin. The propertions of antibiotic resistant to total organisms in fecal specimens of poultry, swine and cow were as follows: 95%, 92%, 70% for tetracycline, 100%, 27%, 9% for streptomycin, 18%, 1%, 1% for penicillin, respectively. The bacteria had multiresistance to antibiotics. These strains had more than one plasmid. From the transformation study, it was concluded that the resistance to streptomycin was attributed to one of these plasmids.