Transferable antibiotic resistance in clinical isolates of Enterobacteriaceae in Malaysia

Enterobacteriaceae isolated from clinical sources were examined for antibiotic resistance and the ability to transfer resistance to Escherichia coli. Twenty-nine out of 80 strains tested transferred part or all oftheir resistance genes. The strains carrying R plasmids included the genera Escherichia, Klebsiella, Salmonella, Enterobacter, Proteus, Providencia and Citrobacter. These results indicate that R plasmids possibly play a major role in the emergence of antibiotic resistance among clinical isolates of Enterobacteriaceae.