Prevalence and characterization of apramycin-resistant Salmonella enterica serotype Typhimurium isolated from healthy and diseased pigs in Korea during 1998 through 2009.

Apramycin resistance was observed in 22.8% (81 of 355) of Salmonella Typhimurium isolates collected from pigs from 1998 through 2009 in Korea. All apramycin-resistant Salmonella Typhimurium isolates also were cross-resistant to gentamicin and tobramycin. Among the seven types of aminoglycoside resistance genes tested, only four types were detected in the apramycin-resistant Salmonella Typhimurium isolates: aac (3)-IV, aac (3)-II, aac (3)-III, and ant (2'')-I. Although the aac (3)-IV gene was found in all apramycin-resistant Salmonella Typhimurium isolates, aac (3)-II, aac (3)-III, and ant (2'')-I genes were detected in five (6.2%), two (2.5%), and three (3.7%) isolates, respectively. The apramycin-resistant isolates comprised six phage types, of which PT193 (16 of 81 isolates, 19.8%) was most commonly observed. To our knowledge, this is the first report describing characteristics of apramycin-resistant Salmonella Typhimurium isolates in Korea. Further study is warranted to determine whether apramycin use in animals results in cross-resistance to gentamicin, which may affect public health when gentamicin is required for disease treatment in humans.