Study of plasmid linked resistance pattern of MDR enterobacterial pathogens

Ten multiple drug resistant enterobacterial pathogens were isolated from common sources of human consumption and were subjected to plasmid isolation. The multiple drug resistant (MDR)(write full abbreviation) isolates collected in the present study indicated the presence of plasmids of almost identical size of approximate 60 kb conferring resistance towards multiple antibiotics. An opportunistic pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa contained a plasmid of slightly higher molecular weight. The isolates were subjected for antibiotic susceptibility testing against 10 antibiotics and found to be resistant towards six antibiotics. All the isolated MDR pathogens were found to be sensitive towards amikacin. Sensitivity for cefuroxime, oxacillin, and metronidazol differed for different species. The pattern of MDR bacteria was perturbing as simultaneous resistance to chloramphenicol and gentamycin, formed the common MDR pattern. The pattern was almost the same for the diverse species (Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Citrobacter diversus, Shigella flexneri, Salmonella typhi, Proteus vulgaris, Citrobacter freundii, Proteus myxofaciens, Klebsiella oxytoca, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa) isolated from different food samples and strongly suggests prevalence of similar R plasmids. This suggests that antibiotic resistance is encoded on a high molecular weight plasmid, and can easily spread in the community through food stuff generally consumed by the common man.