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Nalidixic acid-resistant strains of Salmonella showing decreased susceptibility to fluoroquinolones in the mid-west region of the Republic of Ireland.

Sir, Salmonellosis is an important public health problem worldwide. To date 2435 serotypes of salmonella have been identified. As salmonella has been implicated in a number of foodborne outbreaks in the Republic of Ireland, its prevention, surveillance and control has become a public health priority.1 Salmonella infection is primarily associated with gastroenteritis. This illness poses a more serious health risk to sensitive populations in the community such as the elderly, young and the immunocompromised, where hospitalization may be required. In such cases effective antimicrobial treatment is essential, and the fluoroquinolones are a very important class of antibiotic in the treatment of salmonellosis. Very few published data are available on fluoroquinolone antimicrobial susceptibility testing of salmonella in the Republic of Ireland. Three previous reports in particular have demonstrated fluoroquinolone susceptibility testing of salmonella isolates from 1996,2 1997–19983 and 2000.1 We now provide an update on the occurrence of reduced susceptibility to nalidixic acid and five fluoroquinolone agents in salmonella isolates from humans and food animals in the mid-west region of the Republic of Ireland between mid-2000 and 2002. Our study examined a total of 195 salmonella isolates from human (51), food (eight) and veterinary (136) sources in the mid-west region of the Republic of Ireland. In our laboratory these salmonella isolates were tested against nalidixic acid (30 μg), ciprofloxacin (5 μg), ofloxacin (5 μg), pefloxacin (5 μg), norfloxacin (10 μg) and enrofloxacin (5 μg) (Oxoid), in accordance with NCCLS guidelines for antimicrobial disc susceptibility testing.4 The ciprofloxacin MIC was determined by broth macrodilution in IsoSensitest broth (Oxoid) with an inoculum of 105 cfu/mL.5 Escherichia coli ATCC 25922 was included on each test occasion and all results were within recommended limits, indicating the validity of our test procedures. Nalidixic acid resistance was observed in 2.6% (5/195) of salmonella isolates; these resistant strains were Salmonella enteritidis (two human isolates), Salmonella typhimurium (two bovine isolates) and Salmonella dublin (one bovine isolate). One porcine strain of Salmonella derby expressed intermediate resistance to nalidixic acid (Table 1). Overall,