Antimicrobial resistance of animal and human strains of Enterobacteriaceae in Greece.

Two hundred sixty two strains of Enterobacteriaceae from animal and human sources where intermixing and/or spreading is possible were examined for their resistance to 15 antimicrobials frequently used in animal prophylaxis and metaphylaxis. The antimicrobials with the highest proportion of resistant strains from animal sources were amoxicillin 25 mg, colistin sulphate 25 mg, erythromycin 5 mg, penicillin G 10 mg and spectinomycin 10 mg. The same with isolates from human sources where ampicillin 10 mg, amoxicillin 25 mg, colistin sulphate 25 mg, erythromycin 5 mg, neomycin 10 mg, penicillin G 10 mg and spectinomycin 10 mg. Human isolates were resistant to more antimicrobials than animal isolates. Common a high proportion of isolates from both sources were resistant to some antimicrobials. Systematic and better distributed information is needed to address the epidemiological role of veterinary treatment, prophylaxis and metaphylaxis in antimicrobial resistance in Greece.