Change of drug resistance patterns and genetic properties of R plasmids inSalmonella typhimuriumof bovine origin isolated from 1970 to 1979 in northern Japan
SummaryA total of 321Salmonella typhimuriumstrains of bovine origin obtained in northern Japan during the period 1970–1979 were tested for drug resistance and detection of conjugative R plasmids. Three hundred and eighteen (99·1 %) of these strains were resistant to one or more drugs. The isolation frequency of multiply drug-resistant strains tended to increase year by year. Two hundred and thirty-seven (74·5%) of these resistant strains carried conjugative R plasmids. A total of 308 R plasmids including 174 (56·5 %) thermosensitive (ts) R plasmids were derived from the 237 drug-resistant strains, indicating that 71 (30·0%) strains have two different conjugative R plasmids in a single host cell. Of the 308 R plasmids examined for fertility inhibition (fi), 167 ts and 131 non-ts R plasmids werefi−. Of the 60 ts R plasmids examined for incompatibility, 50 were classified into H1 group and 10 into H2 group. Of the 52 non-ts R plasmids examined, 35 were classified into the Iα group and the remaining plasmids were untypable in our tests. Mercury resistance marker was found in about 20% of H1 R plasmids coding for multiresistance, and all of H2 R plasmids coded for resistance to tellurite. The clonal distribution of anS. typhimuriumstrain which carried an H1 R plasmid coding for resistance to six drugs and mercury was recognized in 1978 and 1979.