Salmonella showing more resistance to antibiotics

Increased resistance, linked to the use of antibiotics in animal feed, poses the greatest treatment challenges for young children.

By Victoria Stagg Elliott, AMNews staff. Jan. 22, 2001.

Salmonella resistant to the antibiotic most commonly used to treat children severely infected by the bacterium has emerged in the United States, according to a study published in the Dec. 27, 2000, JAMA.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study found that in 1996, 0.1% of all cases of salmonellosis nationwide were resistant to ceftriaxone. The rate increased to 0.5% in 1998. Early data from 1999 indicate that 1.9% of infections had reduced susceptibility, although testing is still incomplete.

"When you start to see emerging resistance, it is a great cause of concern because it's one less treatment option that will be open to you in the future," said Tamar Barlam, MD, director of the antibiotic resistance project at the national nonprofit Center for Science in the Public Interest, Washington, D.C.

According to additional research, significantly higher prevalence of ceftriaxone-resistant Salmonella infections have been found in at least one state. In Nebraska, the prevalence of drug-resistant Salmonella has increased to 6%.

The Nebraska data will be presented at this year's American Society of Microbiology annual conference in a paper by Paul Fey, PhD, one of the authors of the JAMA study and associate director of the clinical microbiology lab at the Nebraska Public Health Laboratory in Omaha.

Although antibiotic-resistant salmonellosis has appeared in the United States before, the cases mostly were imported from overseas. However, most of the cases found by the CDC between 1996 and 1998 are believed to have been acquired domestically. Nonetheless, salmonellosis resistant to antibiotics used to treat adults remains extremely rare here. [...]