Transferable plasmid-mediated resistance to streptomycin in a clinical isolate of Yersinia pestis

Emerg Infect Dis. 2001 Jan-Feb;7(1):43-8. doi: 10.3201/eid0701.010106.

Abstract

Plasmid-mediated high-level resistance to multiple antibiotics was reported in a clinical isolate of Yersinia pestis in Madagascar in 1997. We describe a second Y. pestis strain with high-level resistance to streptomycin, isolated from a human case of bubonic plague in Madagascar. The resistance determinants were carried by a self-transferable plasmid that could conjugate at high frequencies to other Y. pestis isolates. The plasmid and the host bacterium were different from those previously associated with multiple-drug resistance, indicating that acquisition of resistance plasmids is occurring in this bacterial species. Emergence of resistance to streptomycin in Y. pestis represents a critical public health problem since this antibiotic is used as the first-line treatment against plague in many countries.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Conjugation, Genetic
  • Humans
  • R Factors*
  • Streptomycin / pharmacology*
  • Yersinia pestis / drug effects*
  • Yersinia pestis / genetics

Substances

  • Streptomycin