Drug resistance, R plasmids and pigmentation of Serratia marcescens isolated in Taiwan.

The Serratia marcescens isolates used in this study were resistant to ampicillin, tetracycline or cephalothin, streptomycin, tobramycin, kanamycin, carbenicillin, chloramphenicol and gentamicin in descending order. Nalidixic acid was the most effective antibiotic against S. marcescens, followed by amikacin and sulfamethoxazole-trimethoprim. The non-pigmented plasmid-carrying isolates displayed higher resistance to some antimicrobial agents than did the pigmented isolates and plasmid-free white isolates. Nine out of 12 resistant markers were coded by plasmids in S. marcescens. The average number of resistant markers per strain was seven for plasmid-containing white isolates as compared to four for other S. marcescens groups. About 73% of S. marcescens contained plasmids. Thirty eight percent of plasmid-carrying S. marcescens spread their R plasmids to E. coli. Conjugative R plasmids were identified in six out of 17 strains of S. marcescens, which apparently contained a single plasmid.