Antibiotics against severe salmonella infections in Africa increasingly ineffective

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-06/gcfi-aas061416.php

Public Release: 14-Jun-2016
Antibiotics against severe salmonella infections in Africa increasingly ineffective
German Center for Infection Research

"The affected countries will have a major problem if we do not manage to control salmonella bloodstream infections with new antibiotics such as ciprofloxacin," cautions Prof Jürgen May. He has conducted numerous studies on salmonella infections in sub-Saharan Africa, particularly in Kumasi in Ghana, where the Bernhard Nocht Institute and the DZIF are in close partnership with researchers from the Kumasi Centre for Collaborative Research in Tropical Medicine.

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Since the early 1990ies, multidrug-resistant salmonella strains that are insensitive to commonly used antibiotics like ampicillin and chloramphenicol have been emerging more and more frequently. Consequently, the WHO recommended using third generation antibiotics, such as ciprofloxacin from the fluoroquinolone group. In a study in Ghana, May and his team investigated whether this new antibiotic now also triggers the development of resistance. From 2007 to 2012, over 300 isolates of invasive salmonella were collected from blood cultures, i.e. those that cause bloodstream infections.

The results from the study are a first warning sign: reduced susceptibility to ciprofloxacin was found in some salmonella serotypes; in one serotype, even half of the isolates were affected. Isolates of Salmonella Typhi, the pathogen that causes typhoid fever, did not show reduced susceptibility. However, in a multicountry analysis, Salmonella Typhi has already been found to have reduced sensitivity to ciprofloxacin; this being particularly high in Kenya. "This is worrying because ciprofloxacin is going to be used more frequently with decreasing costs," explains May.

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