This is the first report of Ps. aeruginosa susceptibility to 24 disinfectants and illustrates the high resistance of Ps. aeruginosa to both antibiotics and disinfectants.

The disinfectant and antibiotic susceptibility profiles of 344 Escherichia coli O157:H7 strains from cattle carcasses, feces, and hides and ground beef from the United States were determined. A low prevalence of antibiotic resistance was observed (14%). The highest prevalences of resistance were to sulfisoxazole (10.5%), tetracycline (9.9%), streptomycin (7%), and chloramphenicol (4.9%). Four strains were resistant to eight antibiotics (two strains from ground beef and one strain each from hide and preevisceration carcass swabs of cull cattle at harvest). Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis analysis of the E. coli O157:H7 strains revealed two major groups (designated 1 and 2) composed of 17 and 20 clusters, respectively. Clusters 1A, 1B, 1C, and 1G.1 were associated with multidrug-resistant strains. There was no observed correlation between disinfectant resistance and antibiotic resistance. Sixty-nine (20%) of the 344 strains were resistant to chlorhexidine or benzalkonium chloride or the MICs of benzyldimethyldodecylammonium chloride were elevated. Inducible resistance was observed at elevated concentrations of antibiotics (1.4%) and disinfectants (6.1%). The highest rate of disinfectant inducible resistance was to OdoBan, quaternary ammonium chlorides, and the surface disinfectants F25, FS512, and MG, which are used in dairies, restaurants, and food processing plants. High MICs (1,024 to 4,096 m g/ml) of acetic, lactic, and citric acids were found. The decreasing order of acid potency based on molar MICs (MICs(molar)) was acetic, citric, and lactic acid. The correlation of the concentration of dissociated organic acids and MICs(molar) strongly suggests that the observed inhibition of E. coli O157:H7 was primarily due to dissociated forms of the acids.

The disinfectant and antimicrobial susceptibility profiles of 138 non-O157 Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli strains (STECs) from food animals and humans were determined. Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) was moderate (39.1% of strains) in response to 15 antimicrobial agents. Animal strains had a lower AMR prevalence (35.6%) than did human strains (43.9%) but a higher prevalence of the resistance profile GEN-KAN-TET. A decreasing prevalence of AMR was found among animal strains from serogroups O45 > O145 > O121 > O111 > O26 > O103 and among human strains from serogroups O145 > O103 > O26 > O111 > O121 > O45. One animal strain from serogroups O121 and O145 and one human strain from serogroup O26 had extensive drug resistance. A high prevalence of AMR in animal O45 and O121 strains and no resistance or a low prevalence of resistance in human strains from these serogroups suggests a source other than food animals for human exposure to these strains. Among the 24 disinfectants evaluated, all strains were susceptible to triclosan. Animal strains had a higher prevalence of resistance to chlorhexidine than did human strains. Both animal and human strains had a similar low prevalence of low-level benzalkonium chloride resistance, and animal and human strains had similar susceptibility profiles for most other disinfectants. Benzyldimethylammonium chlorides and C10AC were the primary active components in disinfectants DC&R and P-128, respectively, against non-O157 STECs. A disinfectant FS512 MIC ≥ 8 μg/ml was more prevalent among animal O121 strains (61.5%) than among human O121 strains (25%), which may also suggest a source of human exposure to STEC O121 other than food animals. Bacterial inhibition was not dependent solely on pH but was correlated with the presence of dissociated organic acid species and some undissociated acids.