In vitro susceptibility to antimicrobial agents and ultrastructural characteristics related to swimming motility and drug action in Campylobacter jejuni and C. coli.

Campylobacter jejuni has recently been noted as the most common cause of bacterial food-borne diseases in Japan. In this study, we examined in vitro susceptibility to 36 antimicrobial agents of 109 strains of C. jejuni and C. coli isolated from chickens and patients with enteritis or Guillain-Barré syndrome from 1996 to 2009. Among these agents, carbapenems (imipenem, meropenem, panipenem, and biapenem) showed the greatest activity [minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC)(90), 0.03-0.125 microg/ml]. This was followed by sitafloxacin (MIC(90), 0.25 microg/ml), furazolidone and azithromycin (MIC(90), 0.5 microg/ml), gentamicin and clindamycin (MIC(90), 1 microg/ml), and clavulanic acid (beta-lactamase inhibitor; MIC(90), 2 microg/ml). All or most strains were resistant to aztreonam, sulfamethoxazole, and trimethoprim. Marked resistance was also observed for levofloxacin and tetracyclines. Resistance was not present for macrolides and rare for clindamycin. C. jejuni (and C. coli) exhibited high swimming motility and possessed a unique end-side (cup-like) structure at both ends, in contrast to Helicobacter pylori and Vibrio cholerae O1 and O139. The morphology of C. jejuni (and C. coli) changed drastically after exposure to imipenem (coccoid formation), meropenem (bulking and slight elongation), and sitafloxacin (marked elongation), and exhibited reduced motility. In the HEp-2 cell adherence model, unusually elongated bacteria were also observed for sitafloxacin. The data suggest that although resistance to antimicrobial agents (e.g., levofloxacin) has continuously been noted, carbapenems, sitafloxacin, and others such as beta-lactamase inhibitors alone showed good in vitro activity and that C. jejuni (and C. coli) demonstrated a unique ultrastructural nature related to high swimming motility and drug action.