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Notice to Readers Establishment of a National Surveillance Program for Antimicrobial Resistance in Salmonella

On August 18, 1995, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved sarafloxacin for use in drinking water for poultry to control illnesses caused by Escherichia coli. * This is the first fluoroquinolone antimicrobial agent approved for use in animals intended for food in the United States. Fluoroquinolones commonly are used to treat many infectious conditions in adult humans, including invasive Salmonella and Campylobacter infections, which occur more frequently in persons infected with human immunodeficiency virus (1). There have been no reports of the detection of fluoroquinolone resistance among Salmonella or Campylobacter isolates in the United States, but fluoroquinolone-resistant Salmonella have been reported among human isolates from France (2) and Germany (3). The recent approval and use of a fluoroquinolone antimicrobial agent in humans (norfloxacin) and in poultry (enrofloxacin) in the Netherlands was followed by the emergence of resistance among Campylobacter isolates from humans in that country (4). CDC recommends that clinical laboratories now include fluoroquinolones when determining the susceptibility patterns of Salmonella and Campylobacter isolates from humans, and contact CDC through state health departments if such resistance is detected.

FDA, CDC, a sample of state public health laboratories, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture are implementing a national surveillance program for Salmonella isolates obtained from clinical specimens from humans and animals (farm and companion), healthy farm animals, carcasses at slaughter plants, and vegetables to monitor changes in antimicrobial susceptibilities. Confidentiality regarding the source of the isolates will be maintained throughout the study. This surveillance program will facilitate the timely detection of changes in susceptibility patterns to fluoroquinolones in Salmonella in either humans, animals, or vegetables and identify areas for educational programs or further studies.

Reported by: Center for Veterinary Medicine, Food and Drug Administration. Animal and Plant Health Inspection Svc, Food Safety and Inspection Svc, Agricultural Research Svc, US Dept of Agriculture. Foodborne and Diarrheal Diseases Br, Div of Bacterial and Mycotic Diseases, National Center for Infectious Diseases, CDC.

References

  1. Angulo FJ, Swerdlow DL. Bacterial enteric infections in persons infected with human immunodeficiency virus. Clin Infect Dis 1995;2(suppl 1):S84-S93.

  2. Brown JC, Shanahan PMA, Jesudason MV, Thomson CJ, Amyes SGB. Mutations of gyrA responsible for quinolone resistance in multi-resistant Salmonella typhi: an emerging therapeutic problem? {Abstract}. In: Program and abstracts of the 35th Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy. Washington, DC: American Society for Microbiology, 1995:50.

  3. Heisig P, Kratz B, Halle E, et al. Identification of DNA gyrase A mutations in ciprofloxacin-resistant isolates of Salmonella typhimurium from men and cattle in Germany. Microbial Drug Resistance 1995;1:211-8.

  4. Endtz HP, Ruijs GJ, van Klingeren B, Jansen WH, van der Reyden T, Mouton RP. Quinolone resistance in Campylobacter isolated from man and poultry following the introduction of fluoroquinolones in veterinary medicine. J Antimicrob Chemother 1991;27:199-208.

  • 60 FR 50,097.


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