Isolation of Pseudomonas aeruginosa from Cockroaches Captured in Hospitals in Japan, and Their Antibiotic Susceptibility

摘要

Pseudomonas aeruginosa strains were isolated from 45 of 370 (12.2%) cockroaches captured in hospitals. By cockroach species, the bacterial strains were isolated from 39 of 181 (21.5%) Periplaneta fuliginosa and 6 of 183 (3.3%) Blattella germanica, showing a significant difference (p<0.01). Many P. aeruginosa-carrying cockroaches inhabited locker rooms (66.7%) and kitchens (17.8%). In terms of serotyping, many isolates were typed into groups A, G, and B. In drug sensitivity tests, strains showed the highest sensitivity to ciprofloxacin with an MIC sub(90) of 0.25 mu g/ml, followed by 2 mu g/ml meropenem, and 4 mu g/ml ceftazidime, gentamicin, and ofloxacin. In contrast, many strains were resistant to cefotaxime and minocycline, accounting for 86.7% of all resistant strains. However, there was no multidrug-resistant P. aeruginosa strain, and all strains were negative for the metallo- beta -lactamase gene (IMP-1 and VIM-2). These findings suggested that cockroach-derived P. aeruginosa may contaminate hospital environments, for which the control of disease-carrying insects in hospitals is important.