[ODP-205] Prevalence of virulence genes and antimicrobial resistance of Cronobacter spp. in Japan
Cronobacter spp. cause meningitis and bacteremia in infants and immunocompromised adults. In this study, prevalence of virulence associated genes and antibiotic resistance patterns of Cronobacter spp. isolated in Japan were determined. Seven types of virulence associated genes (ompA, inv, hly, cpa, sip, aut, fliC) were screened by PCR, using 17 Cronobacter spp. isolates; 1 from patient, 7 from bovine faeces, 9 from foods retailed in Japan. Antibiotic resistance against ampicillin, cefotaxime, ceftazidime, cefoxitin, meropenem, nalidixic acid, ciprofloxacin, trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole, gentamicin, kanamycin, streptomycin, tetracycline, chloramphenicol, and fosfomycin were determined by disc diffusion method. All isolates were positive for fliC, encoding flagellin, and the most isolates were positive for ompA, encoding outer membrane protein. All isolates were negative for sip, encoding siderophore-interacting protein, and aut, a putative virulence factor. Twelve out of 17 (70.6%) isolates including one clinical isolate showed resistance to fosfomycin. Almost all isolates were susceptible or intermediate to all antibiotics used in this study except fosfomycin, whereas 2 isolates from bovine faeces showed resistance to the other antibiotics. These results suggest that the situation of antibiotic resistance of Cronobacter isolates in Japan is not critical at present.