PWGS_I2743_Genetic_basis_of_rare_antibiotic_resistance_in_Brucella_abortus_strains_isolated_in_Brazil

Brucella are a-proteobacteria that give a zoontic infection causing abortion in wild and domestic animals which is transmitted to man through contact with infected animals and milk products. Worldwide, brucellosis is a major economic and public health problem. Human infections are treated with a long course of antibiotics associating doxycycline with rifampicin, an aminoglycoside or co-trimoxazole (trimethoprim plus sulfamethoxazole). Antibiotic resistance is very rare in Brucella isolates; they are facultative intracellular pathogens and do not have an environemental phase in their life cycle and therefore are not in contact with sources of horizontal transfer. We have identified B. abortus 60 strains isolated from cattle in Brazil, which showed resistance or intermediate susceptibility to the main antimicrobials used to treat human brucellosis. Two strains are considered multi-drug resistant. The strains were isolated from cattle from the states of Rio Grande do Sul (21), Minas Gerais (13), São Paulo (12), Pará (7), Santa Catarina (5) and Tocantins (2), between 1977 and 2009. There was no correlation among the drug susceptibility pattern, origin, biotype and MLVA16-genotypes of these strains (Barbosa Pauletti et al 2015).